Days Of Iron, Copper Nights
by Cu-Curee
Summary: Stork is a vampire. How does the team take to this? And what are the consequences for this? Please read and review
1. Chapter 1

Aerrow walked the corridors of the Condor. Most of his team was asleep, except for one: the merb they had found with the ship a few months ago. Stork was an enigma, alright. Fear seemed to dominate his life, yet he flew the ship fearlessly, like a thing possessed. Lately, however, something seemed more off about him then normal.

Within less than a week of meeting them, Stork had been found climbing into bed with each member of the team for sleep. He had _the _worst nightmares, it seemed. But for the last week or so he hadn't joined anyone, and Aerrow could swear that some nights he could hear sobs coming from Stork's room.

He found Stork exactly where he figured he would, at the helm. "Good evening, Aerrow. Can't sleep?"

"I was just going to see if you wanted company for bed once we land," Aerrow told him.

"Land, you say?" Stork's ears shot up, as though he hadn't heard right.

"Yeah, I figured you could use a break. I haven't seen you get any sleep in a few days."

"Eh, not the first time. When you live in the Wastelands, sometimes it's best not to sleep," Stork countered. "But landing... yes, perhaps some rest would be welcome. After I check out the hull. I want to make sure that last Talon attack didn't do any damage."

"I'll give you a hand if you want," Aerrow offered.

"NO!" Stork all but screamed. He cleared his throat at Aerrow's obvious alarm. "Ahem, that is, I'd rather have a warm bed waiting for me with a warm body. It's chilly out there tonight."

"Stork, are you sure you're alright?" Aerrow asked, vastly concerned for the merb.

"Yes. Yes, I'm fine. Um, where are we setting down?"

"You pick. Just do it soon. Less then three hours you understand?" Aerrow told him sternly.

Stork bowed his head, causing Aerrow to shake his. This too had become a recent development in the merb's behavior: Aerrow would give an order, or even a strong suggestion, and the merb would just about bow to him over it. He tried telling the merb not to do this, but Stork actually seemed not quite aware of this habit.

"Less then three hours," Stork echoed. Aerrow gave him a parting worried look before leaving.

The moment he was out of hearing range, Stork let out a sigh of relief. "Whew. Thought he'd never leave." He then let out a moan of pain. He was desperate for sustenance, the warm life-blood of others. The hunger was damn near killing him with the pain of it. If not killing him from starvation.

A dark chuckle echoed through the room, and he looked up at his reflection in the window. _"He smells so good."_ The scent of Aerrow's blood still lingered in his nostrils, and it was all he could do to keep his fangs - curse these damn things - from showing.

"We've been over this. It's not going to happen," he spoke to the reflection. "I'd never hurt him. Never. No matter how hungry I am. Besides, there's a terra not too far from here that has plenty of wildlife."

"_Bah! Do you honestly think that you can survive like this? Look at you! You've never tasted what we BOTH know you must have!"_

"I'll make do!" he snapped. "I won't hurt them... I can't." He leaned against the wheel. Dear Atmos, he was _starving_. He'd managed to feed right before the Storm Hawks had shown up, allowing him to seem like a normal merb to them all. But lately they hadn't had a chance to land anywhere really. They'd been mooring in the sky instead. He felt better doing so, but this gnawing hunger was starting to get the better of him... not to mention he was now cold no matter how warm the surroundings were.

"_That'll be the death of us then. They all smell so good and it's driving us both mad. And you damn well know it!"_

"Would you shut up? Look, there's land and food. I'll set the traps, check the hull, feed..." Stork wiped his mouth with the back of his hand; he was drooling at the very thought, and his cloaca tingled in remembered desire for the act. "And get some well deserved sleep. Away from you for a change."

"_You never take enough."_

Stork sighed. "I'm not sure what would be enough anymore, and nether are you. I've never been full, not since... Besides, that would take all night. And Aerrow's expecting me." He looked at his reflection. Apparently it had nothing to say to that.

He damn near cried in joy when the wheels of the Condor touched down. He hugged the Time Pulse. "Don't worry baby, we'll be back in the air in the morning. I just need to check you over."

He all but sprinted to his room and silently took out his cages before heading out of the ship. With damn near inhuman speed, he moved away from the Condor to set his traps. If he was very lucky, one or two of the four traps would have a meal in them.

He waited now, scanning every inch of the Condor's hull in the meantime. It was a good thing too, in his mind. He found several things that in the morning, when everyone else would be able to see them, he'd have to repair.

His hunger drove him to check his traps sooner then he would have liked, but to his delight, three of the cages had some animal in them. "Dinner is served," he said to himself as fangs - long and sharp, half cone shaped, allowing him to easily suck the life blood from a being, that is if he'd ever figured out how to bite them; everything that was eatable in the Wastelands was on the small side - emerged from his mouth.

"This will be divine. Aerrow's in for a surprise when I get back." He snagged the first animal. He could smell its blood, hear its heart beating frantically in terror. It made him salivate again. He didn't even look at it long enough to see what it was. He savagely tore its head off - he'd never learned exactly how to bite these things the right way - tilted his own head back and let the sweet, sweet blood run down his throat.

It felt like fire was entering his body, spreading out to limbs that were becoming heaver with each passing day. In his starved state, his body had begun to absorb his own blood just to sustain itself. 'Oh dear Atmos, _yes_,' he cried out in his head. 'Oh if only it were warm out...' His hand reached between his legs and through his uniform he teased the edges of his cloaca. Feeding had always aroused him. Since it was such a rare thing, the pleasure of drinking the life essence of a living being was increased to nearly orgasmic levels. And combined with the his long exile in the Wastelands, where something feeling so good was so damned rare, he'd taken to self pleasuring during feeding.

He repeated the process on the other two animals, draining them dry of the sweet coppery taste of blood. He then carefully removed his traps. The local scavengers would take care of the leftovers. He returned to the Condor, hid his traps, made damn sure that there wasn't even a trace of blood on him, and then headed for the much welcome warmth of Aerrow's bed.

"Stork? Took you long enough," Aerrow said with a yawn.

"Sorry, there's some damage to the hull, but it'll have to wait till morning." He didn't want to talk. He strode over to Aerrow and planted a kiss on his warm lips, hands roaming wildly. When Aerrow pulled back for air with a questioning look, Stork merely shrugged. "Okay, maybe I really missed your warmth."

Aerrow smiled at the merb and held him close, walking him to the bed. "Then let's warm you up," he said with a smile. He pulled off his clothes while Stork did the same. The merb threw his arms over his head and turned his head so that his hair fell into his eyes. He wanted Aerrow's loving touch. He buried his instinctual desire to pin the human under him... Aerrow's touch banished such thoughts from his mind as the Sky Knight touched and kissed his body, tracing the patterns on his skin as well as making his own. His touch was always gentle, always loving, and it made Stork want to _give _rather then take. To give himself, and everything he had to this young man. It was times like this that, if only for a few moments, he forgot his ever present hunger, forgot what he'd become in the Wastelands, and could be just another merb again.

Stork gasped when Aerrow's tongue traced the edges of his cloaca. "Aerrow..." his voice was light and breathy and needy. The warmth of the room, the boy, the blanket over him, and the fresh hot blood in his body caused his cock to bloom almost at once.

Aerrow looked up at Stork, fingers still tracing the lips of the merb's cloaca. "What do you want Stork? Just tell me. You haven't been with me in a while and Finn's been bitchy, so I'm guessing you haven't been with him either. You need this, don't you?" Stork couldn't speak from the sensations Aerrow was giving him, so he nodded. "So tell me what you want."

This was much different for Stork. He normally wanted to just be taken, but he'd just fed for the first time since being with this crew, and his body was demanding release. "Nnnugh I..." After years of being told what to do during sex, the term "I want" was still hard to get out, but he wanted it so badly that he pushed the foreign words out of his mouth. "I want..."

He knew Aerrow hadn't yet been taken. Oh, he knew the Sky Knight and the sharpshooter fooled around, but Aerrow had yet to be penetrated. And while the idea often came to Stork's mind - when he was horny, unable to get off, and hungry all at once - to be the one to take that last bit of virginity, what some would call the last of his innocence (who was anyone kidding; these kids were anything but, except maybe the sheltered wallop Junko), the last thing he wanted to do was to be in a place of control with Aerrow... he might succumb to his need. So he figured on the next best thing, something that would keep Aerrow's neck away from his mouth as well. "...your mouth?" His voice was hesitant, questioning, unsure.

"You want me to suck you off?" Aerrow's tone, on the other hand, was soft and reassuring. More asking to make sure that's what Stork meant than anything else. Stork merely nodded. Aerrow nodded as well and took the merb's member in his mouth, sheathing it to the hilt.

Stork cried out loudly and his hips thrust up into Aerrow's mouth. He looked down to see Aerrow smirk around his cock and begin to suck. "S-should have guessed... aaaahhhh, yessssss," he hissed harshly. "Finn right?"

Aerrow nodded, fingers working the edges of Stork's cloaca and tongue working the shaft in his mouth. He could feel Stork's desperation, and made a mental note to ask him why he hadn't come to any of them before now. For now, he decided to give the merb exactly what he wanted.

He twisted his agile body so he could reach up with one hand to pet and stroke Stork's ears while the other hand worked his cloaca. As soon as his hand touched the merb's ear, said merb downright _screamed _in pleasure. Aerrow stopped for a moment. "Don't hold it back, Stork. I love hearing your voice."

He went happily back to the task, his own member becoming excited at the cries coming from his lover. Stork must have been really pent up, because when Aerrow used his teeth the merb cried his Sky Knight's name loudly and spilled his release deep in Aerrow's throat.

"Oh _Atmos _Aerrow. Thank you. Thank you." Stork sounded as though he were thanking a god for some blessing. He lay there panting for a time, unable to speak further, just letting his body enjoy what had just transpired.

He felt kisses being placed over his body, and he could feel the bed moving a bit as Aerrow stroked himself. "You're so beautiful, Stork."

Stork looked down his body at the Sky Knight, looking at him like he was off his rocker. "I'm not crazy, Stork. I find you so beautiful." These words were spoken between kisses. Aerrow sighed, then gasped when one of Stork's hand-like feet grasped his ball sack. Stork continued to rub and massage Aerrow's sack with a foot while hands found pleasure spots on the boy's body. "Oh Atmos, Stork..."

"That's it, Aerrow... I gave you my release, now give me yours." Stork's other foot joined the first, and he bent his body at an impossible angle so his hands could take over the task that Aerrow's had started.

"Holy _shit_!" Aerrow cried out as he came violently.

"I see I can still surprise you Aerrow," said Stork, smirk firmly in place.

Aerrow crawled up to hold the merb close, letting Stork's body cool his own overheated one down. "Stork? What's wrong? You've been acting strange... er then usual. Tell me. Let me help you."

Stork sighed. How often in the few months he'd been with the squad had Aerrow spoken those words. Anything else, he couldn't lie to him. But this, this hunger, the desire for his blood... no. This was one secret he'd never reveal. He couldn't bear to think of what Aerrow and the others would say.

At least part of him couldn't. _"Their fear would be so wonderful to behold." _Stork shook his head for a moment, silently telling himself to shut up, and glad that Aerrow's heavy breathing had covered the whispered words.

"You say something, Stork?" Aerrow asked tiredly.

"No. Nothing. And nothing's wrong. I've just been... tired and a bit distracted. I'm still trying to absorb all this. It's taking some getting used to." Not fully a lie, not a total falsehood.

"Stork, I haven't seen you that needy..."

"Aerrow, I just got tired of Finn's version of... pillow talk as it were. And well, you... I was afraid of... you know... asking." He wanted to drop it. Wanted to sleep; right now he'd rather have the nightmares of his past then the waking one he suffered in day after day in the present.

Aerrow gave a tired chuckle. "Stork, never be afraid to ask. We're both tired. Let's just get some sleep." The redhead pulled Stork to him, holding him close. "Good night."

Stork waited until Aerrow was asleep, then tears of pain and longing fell. 'How much longer can I do this? They need me, I need them.' He rolled over to face his bedmate and with a touch so light, it was as though the darkness had fingers, he caressed the boy's face. 'Do you know how deeply I care for you? Do you understand that I suffer for you? I won't lie, not to myself, not about this. The others, I could take or leave, but you Aerrow... I need you as much as I need the Condor. I'd follow you to hell and back, happily and with no remorse. You could join Master Cyclonis and I would be at your side with a smile on my face, so long as you let me keep my beloved Condor. What should I do... Gods and devils, what should I do?' And yet more tears fell, this time in sorrow.


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning, after Aerrow had prodded him awake, Stork ate his breakfast. 'At least I can still enjoy the taste of normal food. Even if it doesn't do much against the hunger,' he thought as the others also ate. Finn was joking around as always, Junko had about four times the amount of food as anyone else, Piper had a book in front of her plate, and Aerrow... Aerrow was looking at him.

"What? Do I have cabbage in my teeth or something?" He made sure his fangs were hidden before "checking" his teeth.

"Stork, you've barely eaten anything," Aerrow commented.

"Yeah, and? I'm not that hungry..." He finished the comment in his head, 'for normal food.'

"Hey man. I figured after having almost nothing to eat down there," Finn spoke up, tossing a sky berry into his mouth, "you'd practically stuff yourself."

Stork flinched. "Right, stuff myself until my stomach ruptured and killed me." He rolled his eyes exaggeratedly. "Well, I'm going to start on those repairs." He got up, put his leftovers in the fridge and left the kitchen.

_"He's right, you know. You should have gorged yourself the moment you had the chance."_

Stork glanced at his reflection on the shiny metal pipes as he walked down the hall. "No. And shut up. I ate. I'm good for now. Maybe I can talk to Aerrow about landing more often. Routine work on the ship... or something. I'll be fine."

_"But for how long? How long can you resist that wonderful scent you just left?"_

Stork paused to stare at himself in the warped reflective surface of a pipe. "As long as it takes. I finally have friends. Now shut up, or at least leave me alone for a bit. I want to get the Condor back in the air." Giving the now silent reflection a nod of finality, he went to get his tools and begin the repairs on the Condor.

Stork hummed to himself as he worked on his baby. No one ever really bothered him when he was working like this. Junko had done it once, and Stork had jumped so high he'd nearly fallen off the ship. So being left alone, he'd lose himself in this work. He'd carefully, lovingly and tenderly work on each gash, lose screw and missing hull plating.

Being so caught up in his work, he damn near yelled in pain and surprise when his lingering hunger, always present for him, became the stabbing, near-starvation pain it had been just yesterday, causing him to drop his tools.

'The hell?' he thought. He knew better then to talk to himself about this. 'I just fed last night! I shouldn't be this hungry so soon!'

"_Get to your lab, you fool! Even the Condor can wait for THIS!_"

For once, Stork fully agreed with himself. He took off like a shot, holding his hand like he'd cut it or something, just in case anyone wondered why he was coming in. 'Maybe one of the damn things was sick. Sick blood can make _me_ sick,' he thought.

"Whoa, Stork. You okay?" Stork spared the one talking a glance. Junko.

"Cut myself. Gotta patch it up before I get back to work," he muttered before making his way back to his room. Once he was sure Junko wasn't going to follow him, he kept going, making even less noise then normal - oh he could be silent as _death_ when he wanted to be, and right now he needed to get where he was going quickly and silently. Finally he found what he was looking for: a section of the Condor he'd walled off when he was first turned into this... monster, as he saw it. Not even a fully grown wallop could have moved the door. But with the enhanced strength he'd gotten from the curse, he moved the wall easily on hidden tracks.

Once the door was firmly back in place, he doubled over and let out a long drawn-out moan of need and hunger. "Damn it," he grumbled as he sat in the chair.

The room had the look of a thrown-together mad scientist's lab, and on the wall he had scores of papers with notes comparing his condition to the stories he'd heard of vampires over the years, finding out which were true and which were bullshit. There were also various tubs and beakers and a few chemicals he'd gotten his hands on since joining the Storm Hawks, and a microscope. He pulled out a small slide and with one sharp fang nicked his finger, letting the tiny drop of blood land. He then placed a cover on it and placed the whole thing under the scope.

It was revealed that the blood didn't have any sign of toxins or parasites. He shuddered in remembrance of one meal he'd had in the Wastelands - the damn thing had been riddled with blood parasites, and he'd spent three days in bed unable to move out of pain until his body passed them. _That_ hadn't exactly been pleasant either.

With that fear put to rest, he looked at the meager equipment that he stashed here. Finally he sighed and took out three Petri dishes. Stork brought his wrist to his mouth and tore off the skin with a gasp of pain and allowed the blood to drip into the three dishes, before spitting on the bleeding gash to aid in the healing. Within moments no one would have guessed he'd just torn out his own wrist. He muttered to himself as he worked, rambling off the chemicals as he went through them and put different combinations onto each dish. It would take some time for the chemicals do their job and yield answers. He quickly "bandaged" his hand while he was there. So careful. He always had to be so careful. Since he'd told Junko that he'd cut his hand, he had to make it look like he'd taken care of it.

As he made his way back out of the Condor, Junko was just coming in. "Hey, Stork. How's your hand?"

"It's not bad. I'd better get back to work," Stork said absently, wanting to get away from the scent of living blood.

"Oh, I finished the repairs. Aerrow asked me to tell you we got word that the Cycloians have invaded a terra. He wants to check it out, see if we can do anything." Junko rambled off the coordinates of the terra.

"Yeah, sure. Got it," he said, waving off the wallop.

"Stork? Are you okay?" Junko asked, reaching out for the merb. Stork's eyes were glued to the hand coming at him. Actually they were glued to the pounding pulse he could see, hear, and smell; however, Junko took it as Stork being in one of his "don't touch me" moods, and lowered his hand. Stork relaxed visibly and headed off for the bridge.

Piper and Aerrow were already there when he started up the ship, intent on losing himself in flying. Those wonderful clouds... he winced as his back twitched. By Atmos he _hurt_, he hurt everywhere now, and he put a death grip on the helm. He barely heard the conversation Piper and Aerrow were having as he took to the skies. Oh, if only they'd leave. He could _smell_ their blood. Hear it pound in their bodies. It was driving him in_sane_.

"Could you two do that somewhere else?" he finally snapped. "I'm trying to fly here."

"Piper, you go on ahead. I'll catch up," Aerrow told her. Piper took one look at Stork's tense posture, picked up her maps and left.

Once she was gone, Aerrow said, "Stork? You okay, buddy?"

Stork looked over his shoulder at the Sky Knight. "It one of _those_ days, Aerrow."

Aerrow retracted the hand he'd been about to place on his helmsman's shoulder. "Alright pal, I understand." He took a seat on the sofa. "How's your hand?"

"It's alright. Just a small scratch. But I had to bandage it. You never know what kind of infections you can pick up," Stork said with a shrug.

Aerrow smiled. "Well, I'm glad it's nothing serious."

"Yeah, well..." Stork gritted his teeth as hunger pains hit him hard. "Aerrow... I'd like to be left alone, if that's okay?"

"Stork, are you _sure_ you're alright? You haven't been yourself for a week or so now," Aerrow asked in concern.

Stork looked over his shoulder at the red-haired Sky Knight. He wanted to tell him, to explain, to be comforted... to pull him close, to feel his pulse against his sharp fangs... 'No!' he yelled in his mind. "Aerrow, please, just... I'd like to be alone," Stork said, pleadingly, almost begging.

Aerrow looked concerned, but he knew better then to try to pry answers out of the merb. One just has to wait for him to come to you. "Alright Stork, I'll leave you alone for now, but you know where to find me if you wanna talk."

"Yeah, I know. Thanks," Stork said sincerely.

The moment he was sure Aerrow had left him alone, Stork let out a dry sob. It was like a living, waking nightmare, this torture, this constant agony. Especially since relief of this real-life horror movie was so near and yet, by his own will, so unobtainable.

"_Why do you do this to yourself?_"

Stork glanced at the instrument panel next to him, his reflection staring back at him. "Simple. These are the first people to give a shit about me as a person, rather then as a tool or worse, in a long time. And I'd personally like to keep it that way."

"_At the cost of your SANITY at the very least?_"

"And that's different from how I was before _how_, exactly?"

"_Okay, point made,_" his reflection conceded, shaking its head. "_But you can't keep it up forever._"

Stork bit back another moan and growled at his reflection. "What do you suggest? Humm? Feed on them? Atmos would find out in a heartbeat, then throw me in jail. I'd be right back here in a matter of months - worse actually, because not only would I be starving, I'd be caged and grounded for good. Anything to say about that?"

His reflection was silent. "Didn't think so," Stork said with a huff.

The day dragged on slowly - an eternity for the merb at the helm. Aerrow would listen to his request to be left alone, but the bridge was kinda the central hub of the Condor. The crew gathering there was inevitable. Thankfully Aerrow often came in to disperse them, most often Finn and Junko. It was murder to Stork, as he kept checking the time, doing the math over and over again as to how long it would take those cultures to mature enough that he could get his much-needed answers.

Every time Aerrow left the room, he'd look back at the helmsman, silently offering him the chance to talk, to open up, and each time Stork would shake his head. _Not now_, he'd silently tell him. _Leave me be_, his eyes would say. But Aerrow was observant. _Help me_, his expression would say. _I hurt_, his posture would tell him. Aerrow vowed to keep a close eye and ear on the merb. Something was wrong, he could sense it, and whatever it was would soon come to light. He could feel it.

They finally arrived at the terra. It was late at night, and Aerrow called the others onto the bridge for a meeting. "Alright everyone. According to the S.O.S. we received, the Cyclonians have recently gotten a small foothold on this terra. In the morning, we're going to see about sending them back to Cyclonis crying. I want _everyone_," he gave a pointed glance at Stork, who was standing in a corner listening, "to get some sleep tonight. I need you all at your best, no two ways about it. Understood?"

The crew nodded and each headed to bed. Each except Stork - once he was sure everyone was in their rooms, he silently made his way to his lab, his stomach in pain. Answers. He _needed_ answers.

He placed each dish under the microscope, growing more and more pale with each one, until he finally had his answer. It was simple: animal blood wasn't sustaining him anymore. It was if he hadn't fed at all.

He bolted to his room, making sure to close up his lab first. Once there in the warmth of his room, he buried himself in the blankets and shoved his head into the pillow. He had only one option left to him. He half expected his mind to say _'I told you so,' _but it didn't. His body shook. He was starving, and now there was only one way to handle that.

He raised his head to look at himself. His skin was starting to turn pale. He shook his head and began to sob in anguish.


	3. Chapter 3

Aerrow couldn't sleep. Something kept telling him that something was direly wrong this night. He wandered the hallways of the ship, checking everything. At first nothing seemed wrong, until he went past Stork's room and heard the heart breaking sobs.

He knocked, but the request for entrance was unheard over the sounds of sorrow and anguish. He opened the door to see Stork curled up under the blankets, body shivering violently, crying as though his heart would break. He walked over to the merb and knelt next to his bed. "Stork, what's wrong?"

Stork looked up, tears in his eyes. "Aerrow," he whispered reverently, slipping off the bed to kneel next to the Sky Knight, arms reaching.

Aerrow pulled Stork into his arms and held him. "Stork," he whispered softly. "What is it? What's wrong?"

Stork pulled his Sky Knight closer. "Aerrow, forgive me. I'm sorry... I'm so, so sorry. Please, forgive me... I'm sorry..."

"For what?" Aerrow asked, pulling the merb's head to rest on his shoulder, petting and nuzzling his head. Stork didn't answer. His fangs dropped of their own accord, it seemed, and he tilted his head just a bit, and opened his mouth.

Aerrow suddenly felt something sharp graze his neck - two sharp points. "Stork?" he exclaimed in alarm.

The merb suddenly came back to reality and realized what he was doing. What he was _going _to do. "No!" he screamed loudly, his voice echoing around the ship, as he shoved the young man away from him. He scrambled to his feet and ran out of his room in a panic.

The red-haired youth brought his hand up to his neck for a moment. Stork had fangs? Stork had almost _bitten_ him. What in the Atmos was going on?

"Stork, wait!" he cried out. He got up and ran after the merb. He found him in the engine room, cowering. In his blind panic he'd run himself into a dead end.

"Stork..." Aerrow's voice was tender, and gentle, not a hint of anger or outrage marring it. "Stork, what just happened?"

"I...I can't..." Stork's voice was the breathy choking of one who desperately wanted to say something but couldn't.

"Stork, you just about bit me. I think I at least deserve an explanation for that," Aerrow said, his voice still calm and unaccusing.

"_He knows. Kill him now! It's over anyway!_"

Stork shook his head, looking at the reflection in the engine. "No, listen to him, he's... he's not mad... I can tell him... I _will_ tell him..."

"Stork?" Aerrow asked, looking confused. Stork was muttering, like he was having an argument with himself.

"Aerrow... forgive me... I couldn't tell you at first. I never wanted you to find out. I-I thought I could deal with it, but that's... not possible anymore," Stork told him between shuddering breaths.

"Stork, whatever it is, we can deal with it. I'm not mad at you. I'll never hurt you," Aerrow reassured him.

Stork couldn't fight it any more. He was too weak from hunger at this point to argue. He let his fangs drop as he stood up. "I... I am..." He opened his mouth, baring his fangs to Aerrow. "I am _Nosferatu_, Aerrow. The drinker of blood. And Atmos help me... I'm _starving_."

Aerrow wasn't quite sure what to make of this. "Say that... again?" he managed to ask.

"Aerrow, I'm a damned vampire!" Stork exclaimed in frustration. "_Literally _damned!"

"Stork, calm down, it's okay... I...I just need to think a moment," Aerrow told him, trying to keep him calm.

"Could you think else where?" Stork snapped. "Your scent is... maddening."

"We have to tell the others," Aerrow said firmly.

"Oh, you mean those eavesdroppers standing outside the door?" Stork retorted, holding himself up as hunger pain hit him hard.

"Stork? What's wrong?" Aerrow exclaimed worriedly.

"He's starving, dude, didn't you hear him?" Finn said, coming into the room. "I wouldn't get too close if I were you. He may not wanna do it, but he'll chow down on you the first chance he gets in his state."

Everyone was staring at him. Even Stork. "How do you know _that_?" Piper asked, eyes wide.

"Guys, I have like every vampire movie ever made and even a few books on the subject. Yes, Piper, I _do_ read," Finn explained with a roll of the eyes.

"Come on, why don't we get out of this cramped space and get to the bridge, we can think of what to do there," Aerrow suggested.

Stork nodded and left first, not wanting to stand behind them where he would be a danger to his friends. Once on the bridge he turned on the lights, hissing a bit as the strong light hurt his eyes. Then he cried out in pain again.

"Stork..." Aerrow said cautiously. He looked at the merb. Something seemed to be almost... _moving_ under his shirt. "Stork, is that...?"

"Wings," Finn supplied. Stork nodded, biting down harshly on the cry of pain. "You've gotta let those things out, dude. I bet they hurt like a bitch."

"You have _no_ idea..." Stork told him.

"Finn's right. If they hurt, let 'em out," Junko said kindly. "Not like it's gonna make a difference to any of us. Right, guys?" The rest of the team nodded.

"Stork, if you were meant to fly, don't deny yourself such a wondrous thing," Aerrow said.

That did it. Stork removed his shirt and knelt to the ground to steady himself for a moment. "Alright." His voice was a whisper. "I don't have the strength to keep them in any longer anyway."

Suddenly everyone could see it. His back was moving of its own accord, or so it appeared at first. Then at the top, near the shoulder blades, what looked like claws tore out of his skin and down the length of most of his back. From the bleeding wounds - though there wasn't _nearly_ as much blood as there should have been, and Finn looked more then a little concerned at that - came two skinned wings, nothing but muscle and bone.

"A...are they supposed to look like that?" Junko asked.

Finn scoffed. "Dude, watch _The Dark Birth _sometime. Yeah, they look like that. They just came out of his back. What, you think they grow skin under his skin or something?"

"They look a bit small," Aerrow commented.

"Give it a second," Stork grunted out. "They're..." He didn't get to finish, as pain robbed him of speech for a while.

"We've known him for months, Aerrow," Finn commented. "If he's kept them in even that long, they're probably stunted. Must've hurt like the devil itself keepin' those things in while they're tryin' to grow."

"And how do you know _that_?" Piper asked. She sounded a bit annoyed, most likely due to the fact that Finn was rambling facts that she'd never heard of before.

Finn sighed and gestured to the wings, now growing at an accelerated rate in front of them, like watching a sped-up film of a tree growing or something. "_Reluctance_. It's another movie. Guy gets turned and hates the very idea of it, so he does everything he can not to feed, or show his wings, or anything. Dude goes blind trying to pretend bright light doesn't hurt. When he finally has no choice, well, it's just like Stork here."

The entire time Finn was talking, they were all watching Stork's wings grow. Once they'd reached a fair size, the outer layer seemed to harden and flake off as they shook, leaving behind a deep green, almost black, skin... but they could see, when the light hit them just so, that they had patterned spots, much like his back did. Everyone oohed and ahhed over his wings.

"Can we get a closer look?" Piper asked. Stork shifted around so that they could take a closer look while he rested.

Finn meanwhile locked his gaze with Aerrow's and gestured slightly with his head, and they both moved away a bit. "Aerrow," he said in a low voice, "he needs to feed. You see how little blood came out of him?"

"Yeah. Wasn't there something in one of those movies that said if a vampire didn't feed, eventually their bodies would feed on themselves?"

"Oh yeah. Several. But that's not the worst. Aerrow..." Finn looked dead serious, a rare thing for the normally immature sharpshooter.

"What is it?" Aerrow asked, matching the serious expression.

"He hasn't fed much, if at all since we've known him. I'd bet my crossbow he hasn't had his First Feed yet." Aerrow looked a bit confused. "It's in one of the books on them. It's not the first time they eat, but the first time they feed, like, _fully_. If he's _so_ out of it that he's not even bleeding... I'd say he's never fed on people before... and that's the problem," he continued, guessing his leader's next question. "The first time he tastes human blood... he won't stop feeding until he's full. That could be, well... it's going to be fatal. And it might take a few." Finn didn't look too thrilled with what he was saying.

"Why can't he drink animal blood?" Aerrow asked.

"Dunno. Ask him," Finn said.

Aerrow walked back over to Stork and, despite the danger to himself, knelt down next to him and whispered in his ear. "Would the blood of animals work, Stork?"

Stork shook his head, barely able to stand the sweet scent coming from Aerrow, but this was apparently important enough that he'd risk being this close. "Lived on them for years. Body can't use it now. Rejection." He pushed Aerrow away in an effort to keep him safe.

Aerrow went back to Finn. "Apparently he's lived on animals for years, and now his body's rejecting it."

"Shit. Forget _might,_ it _will_ take a few if he's been a vampire for years and never fed on people," Finn said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"And if he doesn't get what he needs completely?" Aerrow asked.

"See that scratch on your neck?" Finn pointed to it, and Aerrow nodded. "Yeah, next time it won't be a scratch. He doesn't get all the blood he needs, and soon, we'll be on the menu." Finn paused and sighed deeply. "Even if he doesn't want us there."

"So what you're saying is, his first meal will mean death to whoever he feeds from?" Aerrow needed to understand, needed a clear statement.

"Yeah, dude. And I'm thinking it's not gonna be a pretty sight either," Finn explained with his heart in his throat. "In just about all the movies and books, the first time is always a blood bath, which is why it takes so many. He doesn't know how exactly to feed yet. That's what the First Feed is supposed to do - let them learn by trial and error."

Aerrow thought about it for all of one second before nodding once. "Hey, guys," he announced as he walked back to the group, who were still admiring Stork's now dry and fully formed wings. His tone was dead serious. "I'm taking Stork to the terra. He's our friend and he needs to eat, just like we do." Stork looked up at Aerrow like he was a god or something, so much awe was in his face. "This isn't going to be a pretty sight. Anyone that doesn't want to hear the details, leave now." He waited for a moment, but not even Junko twitched to leave. "Good. The Talons are going to lose several of their number tonight. As many as it takes for Stork to get full. We speak of this to no one. As far as anyone will know, we donated our blood until he was full. Is that understood? If so - and I'd normally not say this - but for Stork's sake, if you understand and are willing to go along with this, swear it, on this."

Aerrow gestured to the symbol of the Storm Hawks that was embedded on the table in the middle of the room. He then put his own hand on it. "I swear it," he stated, mostly for Stork's benefit, as the merb was watching him with his jaw hanging down in complete bafflement.

Radarr was next, and while he couldn't speak exactly, he put his hand on Aerrow's and crossed his heart. He may not have liked the merb all that much, but if Aerrow was willing to do this then so was he.

Junko was right after Radarr, his large hand covering theirs. "I swear it," he said with a nod.

"I swear it too," Finn said with a smile for Stork.

Piper placed her hand on top of Finn's. "I swear it."

Stork was beside himself with love for these people. They barely knew him and yet they were willing to take the deaths of however many Talons it took for him to feed - he wiped the drool off his chin at the thought - to their own graves. 'They really care about me...'

"_This is unbelievable." _Stork glanced at the wall to see his reflection as wide-eyed as he was.

The merb stood up. If Aerrow was willing to do this, then _he _could hold back his desire, his need to feed, for a little while longer. He walked over to them, his gait a bit off now that he had wings, and placed his hand on top of all of theirs, the other slipping under the pile, so he was holding all of them in his cool grip.

"I swear it," he whispered softly. He looked at each of them, right in the eyes. "And thank you... all of you."


	4. Chapter 4

Stork sat on the side car of Aerrow's skimmer, wings flying out behind him. "So, Stork... how did you become a vampire?"

Stork looked at him for a moment. He owed the Sky Knight an answer for what he'd done. "It was shortly after I found the Condor. Something was living in her, I guess. I kept waking up with small bite marks on my body, but nothing I did managed to stop it. After a month... I remember pain. It _hurts _to become one, Aerrow.

"I did some research once I joined you guys. There's a subtype of Volca bat, small in comparison to the other kinds, that drinks blood. It's small because the blood-carrying creatures of the Wastelands are small... and very few." Stork shook his head. "It was torture, Aerrow. I was lucky if I got a meal once I month. Though I will tell you... It wasn't as bad as when I met you all. Being around that sweet scent of human blood..."

"Stork, why human? What about Junko?" Aerrow asked.

Stork thought for a moment. "To me, human blood is as meat and potatoes is to you. Wallop blood is like a fine wine. At least that's what is smells like. The hunger's gotten worse, since we haven't really landed anywhere overnight since I arrived."

"I thought you _wanted _to moor in the sky?" Aerrow asked.

"I did. It's more... comfortable for me in every other regard. When we landed yesterday I managed to catch several animals and feed, but the next day it was agony all over again. Several years of drinking animal blood had made me... immune to it. It makes a fine snack, but the next day it's as if I haven't fed. And can we please change the subject? I'm drooling."

"Sure thing. We're here anyway," Aerrow said. "Do... do you want help or anything?"

"You would, wouldn't you?" Stork said quietly. "You'd chase them right to me."

"Of course I would," Aerrow answered.

"I can't ask that of you, Aerrow. I just can't." Stork hung his head.

"Stork, are you strong enough to do this?" Aerrow asked.

"I... no. I'm not. I can't even fly, I'm just too weak." Stork sounded like he was going to cry.

"It's okay. It's why I wore civilian clothes. You're one of us, Stork, but we can't always do this," Aerrow told him.

"I know. I don't think I'll need it anyway. From what I've read, though it seems Finn knows more then I at the moment - huh, never thought I say that - a small amount a day should be fine afterwards," Stork explained as they landed. They both dismounted, Stork wrapping his wings around him like a cloak.

They walked for a while until they came to the small village, and there they saw the Talons patrolling. "Stork, wait in that ally there. I'll bring them to you."

Stork nodded and hid himself. It was only a few moments later that Aerrow's voice was heard arguing, and Stork heard him running in his direction. Aerrow was faster then the Talons and he came running down the ally and hid himself next to the merb. "There's six of them. How do you plan on..." He didn't finish as Stork's wings flew open.

"I'll be making their deaths quick." He moved into position so that he was blocking the exit of the alley. He didn't have to wait long.

Aerrow watched in awe, and some fear, as Stork landed on the group of men. He heard several loud snaps and cracks as Stork killed his intended meal. It seemed that as the Merbian vampire drank, he started to figure out how to feed without making a mess, as the last one fell to the ground with nothing but two marks on his neck.

"Stork? How do you feel?" Aerrow asked tentatively.

Stork turned around to look at the Sky Knight, his wings no longer drooping. "I feel... _alive_!" he answered, licking his lips and hands clean of blood. "I'd like to fly home myself." He spread his wings.

"Well at least let me fly with you, just in case," Aerrow said with a smile.

Stork nodded. "I'll take care of the bodies and meet you at the Skimmer, alright? I'll just toss them over the edge of the terra."

"Can you..." Aerrow started. He trailed off when Stork simply tied all six up and carried them effortlessly away. "Never mind then."

He returned to his Skimmer and waited. It wasn't long before the winged merb returned.

"Ready?" Stork asked, wings spread. Aerrow nodded, and they both took to the wind.

Stork laughed loudly as he flew. Merbs in general didn't take to the air, but he'd always wanted to fly, and now he was doing it on the most fundamental level. However, he didn't quite have it down pat yet. Aerrow chuckled at him slightly. "Not so good, I see?"

Stork grabbed the side car. "Humph, _you _try making a new pair of limbs work. Then tell me how easy it is."

"Sorry. It's just funny watching your wings flap all akimbo like that," said Aerrow with a chuckle in his voice.

"Okay then, Captain Tightpants, how do I do it?" Stork asked, giving his Sky Knight a royal stink eye.

Aerrow kept giggling for a moment before answering in a much more serious tone. "Just relax. Feel the wind, Stork. Spread out those wings and concentrate on the _feel_ of the wind moving over them." Stork looked at Aerrow like he was mad, but did as suggested. "That's it. Now, with wings that size they're meant for strong slow flaps, not short quick ones."

Stork flapped his wings several times, slowly and he felt himself begin to lift a bit. He looked at Aerrow who smiled encouragingly and Stork started to let go of the side cart. "I'm... _flying_." The merb was stunned.

His lift faltered, but he was caught by Aerrow gripping his hand. "Don't worry," said Aerrow kindly. "I won't ever let you fall."

Stork smiled back at the Sky Knight and nodded, then clung to Aerrow as he tested his new wings all the way back to the ship. By the time they had arrived, Stork had gained much more confidence in his flying. His landing, however...

"Dude Stork, I've seen _Talons _land better," said Finn, laughing hard. Stork glared at him from his faceplanted position - face down, feet in the air.

Aerrow walked in from the hangar a few moments later as Stork was getting up. "We'll work on those next. But first let's get you cleaned up. You're, um..."

Stork looked down at himself. His chest was caked in dried blood and he quickly covered himself up with his wings as he watched the others blanch just a bit. "Yeah, ahem, maybe I should clean up." He walked out of the room, Aerrow right behind him.

"Hope you won't mind company. I..." Aerrow started.

"I know," Stork told him. "You're a Sky Knight, after all. I'd honestly be surprised if you _didn't _feel dirty after that."

Aerrow gave Stork a relieved smile as they headed into the bathroom. While Stork stripped off his pants - he hadn't put his shirt back on after letting out his wings - Aerrow started the bath. "How hot do you want it?"

Stork just shrugged. Aerrow looked over and noticed that Stork's pants, now inside out from being peeled off, were sticky. "Um, Stork?" He raised an eyebrow at the merb.

Stork looked at him, confused for a moment, then followed the Sky Knight's gaze to his pants and blushed hard. "Oh, um, that." He gave his strange little not-quite-laugh. "Yes." He cleared his throat, ears drooping just a bit.

Aerrow looked at him as he finished stripping off his own clothes. "What's wrong?"

Stork slipped into the tub, the water immediately turning pink from the blood on his body. Aerrow followed with soap and scrubbers.

"Remember what I told you?" Stork asked. "About only getting one meal a month if I was lucky?" Aerrow nodded as he began to wash Stork. The merb made a contented sound as Aerrow pulled him closer to himself, the younger man seeming to want to make sure every last inch of his pilot was washed clean. Stork extended his wings, allowing Aerrow to wash them as well, before he continued. "It feels _so _good to feed, Aerrow. Down there, in the Wastelands, it was so hard to find a meal. Eating is pleasurable, you know that, and feeding is the same way. Could you scratch that?"

"Here?" Aerrow asked, running his nails over a spot on Stork's wing.

"Yes, right here..." Stork's wings fluttered as he allowed Aerrow to scratch the itch for a moment, before going back to his tale. "Well when one is starving, sustenance..." The merb paused to moan softly at the thought. "Feeding becomes downright erotic. It turns me on to feed, alright? And to _finally_ feed on what's been tormenting me ever since I joined you guys... being pressed against my victims' bodies was enough to warm me up. I couldn't hold it back. I just came." Stork hung his head shamefully.

"Is that why you were so... enthusiastic yesterday? You'd fed?" Aerrow asked as he continued to scrub.

"Yeah. That's exactly it. But this time... Aerrow, I knew I was going to feed till I was full. Something I'd never done. And my body... all it took was a little bit of friction." He inhaled sharply as he felt Aerrow kiss his neck, and fingers brush against his erection.

"Seems like just thinking about it turns you on," Aerrow said teasingly.

"Aerrow, whenever I found something I could eat down there, I'd pleasure myself while I ate. To feel something so good in a place that's a struggle to survive in, let alone keep yourself entertained..." Stork sounded ashamed.

Aerrow nuzzled the merb's neck. "Shh shh shh, nothing to be ashamed about, Stork. There's nothing wrong with that." Even as he spoke his hand began to work the merb's erection. Aerrow smiled to himself as he heard Stork begin to pant. "That's it. You need this. Let me give it to you." Stork merely nodded, his wings trembling, causing Aerrow to giggle. "What? It's cute." Stork just rolled his eyes and leaned back against the Sky Knight. He always felt taken care of when Aerrow was around, and it wasn't long before his wings flared out to their fullest length and his fluids added to the mess in the water.

Not long after, both the Sky Knight and his helmsman were cleaned and dressed - Stork was still shirtless due to his wings - and they entered the bridge, where the rest of the crew was waiting. "So like, what do we do now?" Finn asked.

"We continue as planned," Aerrow told them. "In the morning, we help the local Sky Knight remove the Talons from his terra."

"Well _duh_. I mean after that," Finn clarified.

"I'd like to go to Terra Atmosia and look in their library," Piper suggested.

"Let me guess, you want to look up vampires," Stork said, rolling his eyes.

"Exactly. Maybe I can find a cure."

"Before we start debating what we're going to do, I want all of you to get some sleep," Aerrow ordered. "We have a long day ahead of us."

Once everyone filed out, Aerrow turned to Stork. "I take it you're not tired?"

"Humph, you're not sleeping either," Stork commented.

Aerrow sighed deeply. "Probably not. You want company?"

Stork shrugged. "Not like I'll be doing very much. Just trying to modify my uniform so my wings can fit."

"Heh, beats the hell out of staring at my ceiling all damn night," Aerrow remarked with a humorless laugh.

Stork went and gathered several shirts and some sewing supplies, and returned to begin his work. For a while they sat in silence before Stork spoke up. "I'm sorry."

"Stork, don't. There's no reason to be," Aerrow told him kindly. "I'm just glad you didn't kill us all in our sleep, and that you're feeling better." The redhead smiled and patted the spot next to him on the sofa.

Stork scooted over. "I can't thank you enough, either," he said.

Aerrow chuckled. "Call us even, then. If you hadn't found the Condor and fixed her up, we'd've all been Lava-Worm food."

"Aerrow, I almost killed you. I had the very tips of my fangs in your skin-" Stork started.

"Hush. You _didn't_ kill me. You stopped yourself from it," Aerrow told him.

"That's not the point." Stork paused in the middle of sewing zippers to the sides of the newly cut and hemmed slits in the back of his shirt.

"Stork, once we've done our job here, we'll take a break. Go on a vacation, and figure this out. Will you need to eat again tomorrow before the fight?" Aerrow asked.

"No, I won't need to feed again for at least a few days. At least that's what I've read. Finn seems to know more about vampires than I do, and I fucking _am _one." Stork snatched up his sewing and in doing so pricked his finger, causing it to bleed. He looked at the drop as it formed on his thumb like it was a foreign thing. He tilted his head like a baby bird as he watched it well up and drip down the length of his thumb, before licking it off and sucking on the tiny pinprick for a moment, his saliva healing the wound. "I haven't seen my body do that in _years_. Normally if I needed a drop of blood, I'd have to bite down to the bone or to rip open several veins... it's strange to think that the thing that makes me everything but normal is the one thing I need to _be_ normal."

"Why on Atmos would you _need_ to make yourself bleed?" Aerrow asked, alarmed.

"To keep track of what was happening to me, or in one case find out why I felt like I was dieing - turned out something I'd eaten had been riddled with parasites. Trust me on this one, that's _not_ a pleasant experience to deal with."

"How did you keep track of it?" Aerrow asked.

"Oh, just a microscope I found on the Condor. I'll show you my findings after the battle tomorrow. Assuming we win, of course." Stork smirked at Aerrow and went back to his work.

"I'm holding you to that, buddy," Aerrow told him, returning the smirk. The two sat in amiable silence for the rest of the night as Stork worked. The merb felt contentment here and now... more so than he'd ever felt anywhere before.


	5. Chapter 5

Aerrow awoke the next morning on the sofa. Stork was picking at something on his wing absently. "Good morning. You should get some breakfast into you before Junko gets up."

"How long was I out?" Aerrow asked, rubbing his eyes and stretching.

"Couple hours. Sun just came up. You want to get the others up..." He smirked and hefted a bucket of ice water. "Or should I?"

Aerrow rolled his eyes. "No, Stork, leave the bucket here."

Stork gave an exaggerated, melodramatic sigh. "Very well, I shall leave the blond and the wallop to your tender mercies. I, meanwhile, will be getting the Condor ready."

"You do that. Um, how are you feeling?" Aerrow asked hesitantly.

"Better than I've felt in years," Stork told him, grinning.

Aerrow grinned back. "Good to hear. I see you finished your shirt."

Stork turned around slowly, showing off the zippers he'd attached to allow his shirt to go over his wings and not flap around everywhere. "Thanks. I got most of my shirts done."

Aerrow chuckled and went off to wake the team. Finn, he simply heaved the mattress so the sharpshooter fell to the floor. "Aww, man. Morning already?" Finn whined.

"Hey, be grateful you got more than three hours of shuteye," Aerrow told him.

"How's Stork?" Finn asked, picking himself up.

"He's downright cheerful for him." Aerrow hauled his best friend to his feet. "Come on, we've got work to do and I'd like to get it done fast this time."

After everyone had a quick breakfast, Piper, Aerrow, Junko and Finn headed out. "Alright everyone, I know we're all dealing with Stork, but we've got to put that on a back burner and concentrate on stopping the Talons. Remember, we have a duty to Atmos, as _well_ as our friend. Understood?"

"We got it, Aerrow," Piper told him.

"Yeah dude, we got it," Finn agreed.

Aerrow smiled at his team. Despite the unconventional way they acted (and lived), they certainly knew how to get the job done... their way, of course. It made him feel good to know that this team of ragtag misfits could pull it together when needed. "Good. Finn, you and I'll keep the skies clear. Piper, you and Junko work on the ground teams, understood?" The team nodded. "Alright guys, let's do this!"

Aerrow looked out into the skies at the Talons approaching him and Finn and found himself grateful that the Dark Ace wasn't among them this time. His head just wasn't screwed on right for _that_ conflict. He nodded once to Radarr and they got to work distracting the Talons that were going after Piper while she landed. They were distracted alright, as he leapt from his Skimmer, twisting and flipping like an acrobat and gymnast rolled into one.

Aerrow smirked at the Talon on the Skimmer he'd landed on. "You can jump or fall." The Talon chose to jump, and Aerrow laughed hard. He tipped a wink to Finn, who was passing by shooting at several Talons. The Sky Knight leapt back onto his Skimmer and took stock of the battle for a moment. Finn was making short work of a group of fighters, and Stork was making a game, it seemed, of playing tag with the few Skimmers that tried to come close to the Condor.

Aerrow took off after another fighter that was trying to land near where Piper and Junko were assisting the local Sky Knight, firing bolts at the Talon from his daggers. Once it went down, he turned the Skimmer around to see a Talon barreling towards him. He smirked and kept going, shaking his head as the Talon blinked first and veered off... right into Finn's waiting sights.

It wasn't long after that that the Talons retreated, and Aerrow landed to talk to the local Sky Knight. The conversation wasn't exactly a new one for the young Storm Hawk and went by quickly, with the promise of a return if needed. "Man, sometimes I wonder why we weren't allowed to become official," Finn complained as they made their way back to the Condor. "I mean, come on! How many Terras have we saved because their Sky Knight couldn't handle the Talons?"

"Let it go, Finn," Junko said.

"Exactly," Aerrow agreed. "Some people aren't as adaptable as we are."

When they arrived at the Condor they found Stork leaning against his steering console lazily, wings wrapped around him loosely. "Welcome back."

"Hey Stork," Piper said with a wave. "So what do we do now?"

"You wanted to go to Atmosia," Aerrow piped up. "Why not go there?"

"After lunch," Stork commented. "I meant normal food." He rolled his eyes at his team's worried looks. "If I'm going to metabolize what I ate last night, I need normal food."

"One large lunch coming up!" Finn declared before Junko could. He liked the wallop, like a lot, but his cooking left something to be desired. The crew filed into the kitchen and Finn began to whip up a meal fit for a family of wallops.

"So you really _can_ eat normal food?" Piper asked.

"Of course," Stork answered. "You see, blood is like... a supplement. Go long enough without it, and my body starts to absorb my own blood into my muscles just to try to keep me alive. I'm not sure how much I'll need normally, but it shouldn't be much. The only reason that it took so many this time was because I had to replace nearly all my blood, as well as jump-start my organs into working again. My body still needs normal food for normal stuff, however."

"And your metabolism just kicked into high gear, am I right?" Finn asked from the stove where he was already cooking.

"Oh yeah," Stork told him, smirking with his fangs down for effect. The response wasn't quite the effect he'd had in mind. Damned if the blond didn't shudder and _blush_ before turning quickly back to his cooking. Stork chuckled to himself. 'Well well. This might just get entertaining,' he thought as he stretched his wings, and the rest of his body, working out some kinks.

"But you hardly ever ate anything before," Piper said.

"Couldn't really digest anything," Stork told her with a shrug. "That, and I don't eat all that much normally. But with my body in overdrive at the moment..." he trailed off absently as Finn dropped a plate of Sky Berries and Cloud Sauce in front of him.

"That should tide you over while I finish lunch," Finn told him with a smirk.

"Thanks." The merb began to eat with relish, devouring everything that Finn put in front of him until he was positively stuffed. "I could sleep for a week," he said hazily. Everyone chuckled.

"Sorry to interrupt your reverie there, Stork, but wasn't there something you wanted to show me?" Aerrow asked with a smirk.

Stork glanced at Aerrow for a moment. "Yeah, sure, why not." He stood up and motioned for everyone to follow him. The others looked at each other for a moment before following. Stork led them to where he kept his lab hidden. "Junko, see if you can move that wall. _Without_ busting it down."

"Uh, okay," the wallop said with a shrug. He pressed _hard_ against the wall, putting his whole weight into it. Nothing happened. "Stork, that's just a wall. It's not moving."

The merb smirked, fangs down, and pressed on the wall seemingly with no effort and to the team's amazement, the small expanse of wall before them moved - pushing in slightly and then sliding sideways into a hidden slit in the wall. "You were saying?"

"How did you _do_ that?" Junko asked in awe.

"I'm stronger than even a fully grown wallop. Now then, this is my lab." He gestured to the room.

Piper was in awe of the place. It was so _Stork_. The room was largish, enough that the crew could stand in it and not be too crowded. The walls and floor had fist-shaped dents in them in some places. There were beakers full of chemicals on a makeshift table made from scrap metal. The walls were papered with scribbled notes and a few half-assed sketches. On another table sat a microscope with slide in it and three Petri dishes, all three containing congealed blood. One also had something growing on it, another was coated in a thin film of white, and the third smelled horrible and was greenish. "Oh, wow..."

"Well, you certainly are... dedicated," Aerrow said as he looked around. He'd always figured Stork had some kind of lab or other hidden room on the Condor, but he was rather surprised that Stork had managed to keep it hidden for _this _long. Now he know why.

"Well, I had to keep track of my condition _somehow._ Especially once you guys came along," Stork replied.

"So what's that?" Piper asked, pointing at the three dishes as the rest of the team filed in and looked around.

"Oh, that..." Stork's ears drooped. "That's what clued me in to the fact that I couldn't, and can't, survive on animal blood anymore. See, I fed the day before I made these. The chemicals I used reacted with my blood. They shouldn't have, not if I'd fed." Stork shook his head. "These are the various notes I took once I turned... you'll have to excuse the frantic handwriting, I wasn't completely sane most of the time. Half starved, out of my mind with hunger..." Stork shook his head.

Finn placed a hand on the merb's shoulder. "Not gonna happen again if _we_ have anything to say about it, Stork."

Stork chuckled to himself and touched the hand on his shoulder. "Are you offering?"

The marksman shuddered just a bit and whispered, "Maybe."

"Why don't we hold off on that topic until we've found out how much you're going to need on a regular basis," Aerrow said.

"Spoil my fun," Stork said, but he smiled, fangs hidden this time, at Aerrow.

"I know, I'm just a downer at the party," Aerrow returned with a grin.

"So, um, what _are_ we gonna do, Aerrow?" Junko asked. None of the paperwork really made sense to him, and the chemicals were unknown in his experience, so he just stood there.

"We're going to the library on Atmosia. Piper can do the research she needs too, and the rest of us... I guess we're going to be watching a lot of movies for a while. If we're going to understand this we need to know as much as we can."

"I think I'll opt out of the movies," Stork said. "The one time I peeked in when you guys were watching a vampire film, I nearly attacked you all... the sight of feeding seems to provoke my hunger." He fiddled with one of the claws on his wings.

"Well, we'll just get you a blood bag," Finn said jokingly.

"Actually, that's not a bad idea," said Piper suddenly. "We get blood donor bags and fill them with our blood in case he basically gets the munchies."

"Sounds like a plan," said Aerrow.

"Well, if we're going to Atmosia, I'd better get back to the wheel," Stork said. The others nodded and left the lab. Stork closed it behind them, and they headed for the bridge.

"So Finn, how _did_ you know that vampires were real and not just something from movies and myth?" Piper asked.

Finn rubbed the back of his head. He hated talking about how he grew up, not because it was horrific, but actually because he had it pretty well, especially in comparison to most of the crew. "Um well after, _ you know_ happened..." They never really spoke of the defeat of the last Storm Hawks if they could help it. "I got shipped back to Terra Lyn. For like my birthday, my guardians... fuck, it was my _butler _that got it in their name - got me this really old tome when he saw that I was really into vampires and stuff. Said it had some old information on them."

The team blinked. "You had a butler?" Junko asked, wide-eyed.

"More like a glorified babysitter, but yeah..." Finn was red in the face now. "I slacked off in school to study it. My guardians took it from me because I wasn't paying enough attention in school. That was right before Aerrow came and found me."

"After we hit Atmosia, maybe we could go to Lyn and pick it back up?" Aerrow asked. He knew that Finn was uncomfortable with the topic of how he was raised, but if he had something that could help Stork, it was worth a shot.

"I... I dunno, dude. Maybe. I'd have to be all... snobby over there. So not me..." He glanced at Stork. There were things in that tome that at his younger age, he'd not understood. "Fine. When we get to Atmosia, I'll made a few calls. Just promise me you guys won't bust my balls for the way I'm gonna have to act to get anything from them?"

Aerrow just smirked. "Not gonna promise."

"Asshole."

"Ahem, but if we're going to any Terra... how are we going to deal with _these_?" Stork flared his wings as he stood at the wheel.

"I still have a few Chroma crystals," Piper brought up. "If I combine one of those with a Cloaking crystal shard, it should conceal them."

"Good. Do it," Aerrow told her. Piper ran off to her lab to get to work.

"I'm gonna go clean up the kitchen," Junko said as he walked off.

"So Stork, any idea when you'll need to feed again?" Aerrow asked him. "Or how much, for that matter?"

"I've honestly got no idea. I've spent the entire time I've been a vampire, until last night, hungry... no, _starved_ for blood." Stork's voice was heavy.

"Hey, that's all over now..." Aerrow began.

"Please don't. Don't promise it'll never happen again. With my bad luck it will. Something will happen and I'll be that damned hungry again. Maybe not for _nearly_ as long, but it will happen again," Stork interrupted.

"Fair enough. I won't promise that you won't know that feeling again. I _will_ promise that we'll do everything we can to prevent it, and stop it when it does. How's that sound?" Aerrow asked, cocky grin and all.

Stork couldn't help but return that smile. "I can live with that."


	6. Chapter 6

Stork looked over his shoulder at the sharpshooter. Finn had been sitting there staring off into space for several hours now. It was odd for him to sit so _silently_ and it was slightly unnerving to Stork.

"Is, uh..." Stork started. It wasn't in his nature to pry into others' affairs, but the silence was getting on his nerves. "Something on your mind?"

"Hum?" Finn asked shaking his head, bringing him out of his thoughts. "On my mind? Nope, just waiting for us to get there is all." His normal shit-eating grin was plastered on his face, though under Stork's gaze it faltered.

The merb wasn't looking at him any special way near as Stork could tell, and it confused him even more. He put the ship on autopilot and turned to look fully at the blond. "Finn? You've been staring at me all afternoon, and frankly it's making me uncomfortable, so _out_ with it already."

Suddenly Finn stood up and walked over to Stork. "Can... can I touch your wings?"

Stork looked at Finn like he'd never seen the sharpshooter before. "What's gotten into you?"

Finn blushed, his cocky attitude robbed by the object of his hidden obsession before him. Ever since he'd been given that tome and found that vampires were a real thing, and not something made up by superstitious cavemen in ages past, he'd been obsessed with them in _all _ways imaginable. He reached out and gently stroked the wing that Stork had stretched out to him, with a curious look on his face. Gently Finn ran a finger across the membrane of the wing, the sensitive trigger finger feeling every vein and tendon. "Wow," he whispered.

Stork looked over his shoulder and out the window. 'Good, nothing but clouds,' he thought to himself. Then faster than Finn could see, Stork snatched him and pulled him closer, wings wrapping around him. "You like the way they feel?" he whispered. Finn nodded numbly. Stork raised both hands and, letting his fingers barely touch his skin, ran his fingers down the blond's face. He knew he was being an evil tease to the boy, but frankly he didn't care. He _enjoyed_ working his learned talent on the boy, but now that his secret was out, he couldn't help but want to try out some of what his vampiric nature had given him.

Finn leaned into the merb's cool touch his breath coming in short gasps. "Oh shit... _Stork_," Finn panted. He could feel his arousal pressing against his pants. He always had enjoyed the way the tight pants showed off his legs, but right now they were a torment. He felt Stork's strong wings hold him in place, making him unable to move away from his pleasurable torture.

Stork turned Finn around and chuckled in his ear. "You really like me like this... don't you?" the merb purred.

Finn licked his dry lips and nodded. "Uh-huh." Finn could feel the vampire's breath hot on his neck and his body tensed. He felt like he was going to come just from being so near to the object of his forbidden lust.

Cool hands began working their way to the hem of Finn's shirt and slowly began to divest the blond of it. Stork leaned into Finn's neck and inhaled deeply the scent of the youth, for once actually _enjoying_ the sweet, sweet scent of the blood pounding in his body. He pressed himself flush against Finn, letting the sharpshooter's body heat warm him, and licked the boy's neck. "Do you want me?"

"Man, I'll take you right here on the floor," Finn panted out, leaning back against Stork, feeling the merb's member begin to poke him.

Stork seemed to consider this for a moment, trailing his fingers down Finn's neck to dip into the hollow of his collarbone while his other hand made its way down to trace the toned muscles the youth sported. "I think I'll take you up on that offer," he mused, almost to himself.

Before Finn could utter a word, he found himself on the floor of the bridge and his pants flying off. He really had no idea how the fuck his shoes came off. He moaned loudly as Stork stroked his erection through his boxers. "Gah... fuck," Finn groaned, eyes closed in pleasure, and he barely registered the feel of his boxers being literally ripped off of his body as clever fingers played with his neck. His eyes shot open when he felt a tight warmth sheath his member fully.

"Your wish is my command," Stork whispered huskily once he was fully impaled upon Finn's throbbing cock. Even as he rode the blond he unzipped his shirt and tossed it aside. Once it and his gloves were gone he ran his fingers through Finn's hair. Dear Atmos, he _loved_ the feel of Finn's hair between his calloused fingers. He twirled it around his fingers, petted the golden spikes, even leaned down and took in the scent. Everything seemed so... _different_ now that he'd fed. Touch, sight, smell - he licked Finn's neck - taste, and sound all seemed so much better then they had before.

Finn groaned and thrust into Stork like a thing possessed, hands gripping tightly the hips of his lover. He couldn't articulate words; only sounds of passion escaped his parted lips. He moaned into the searing kiss that Stork thrust upon his parted lips, the merb's tongue darting into his mouth, tasting him, his own tongue running over the one he willingly allowed to plunder his mouth.

Stork's wings covered them both, keeping the merb mostly warm, at least enough to keep his hard-on. His hand snatched Finn's wrist from his hip, pulled off his glove, and pulled the flesh to his mouth. He grinned, his fangs slowly lowering, as Finn looked up at him. The merbian vampire brought the wrist to his mouth and sucked on the pulse point there.

Finn gasped. "Oh _Atmos_ Stork..." He paused for only a moment to remove his other glove before letting his free hand move down to stroke the red flesh protruding from Stork's cloaca. "Yes... do it." His voice, though begging, was barely a whisper in his desire.

Stork thrust into Finn's hand several times, eyes closed, as he licked the pulsing veins in Finn's wrist, and it took a few moments for Finn's request... no, that wasn't the right word. The way he'd spoken he'd been voicing a long hidden and suppressed desire. "Are you sure?"

Finn tilted his head to the side and up a bit, exposing his neck fully. He gulped a bit but this fantasy, being right here, riding his hard dick... he was never one to go halfway. "Yes." He even went so far as to reach up, lace his fingers in Stork's hair and attempt to pull him down.

Stork allowed his head to be pulled down, and he spoke against the human's neck. "I don't know how on a living thing. This might hurt."

Finn gently petted his head soothingly even as he thrusts picked up speed and his other hand moved in time with those thrusts. "I know. I don't care. Just go for that vein, the jugular. You have no idea how badly I want this..."

Stork couldn't resist. Though he had no hunger at the moment for the blood pounding in Finn's body, the desire to taste living blood, and to know that he wouldn't kill the youth beneath him, was too much of a siren's call. He leaned in, fangs brushing against his neck for a moment. He pulled back for less than a second, before relenting to the pressure on his head and sinking his fangs deeply into Finn's neck.

Finn cried out in lust and pain. It was better than he'd ever _dreamed_. Better than his greatest sexual fantasy when he'd stroke himself to blissful completion. He could _feel_ his life essence flow into Stork's mouth, and he felt a tightening in his body. His release was at hand. It was to his surprise that Stork finished first, crying out around the mouthful of neck while sipping the warm flowing blood. The merb's member pulsed his seed onto Finn's hand and stomach. Finn gave one final thrust up, deep and hard, into Stork's willing body as he too came violently.

Stork had never tasted anything so sweet in all his life. Living human blood... by all the Atmos it was better than anything he'd ever tasted. He came hard in Finn's stroking hand, as he swallowed the mouthful of blood he'd taken. The moment he finished, Finn filled him with his release, and he licked the wound he'd made, causing it to heal at once, before collapsing onto the human. "Great Atmos..." he breathed.

"Yeah..." Finn agreed, panting.

"Ahem," Aerrow cleared his throat, causing both males to took at the open doorway, Finn having to tilt his head back a ways to do so.

"Oh, uh, hey Aerrow! How things?" Finn asked, grinning.

Aerrow dropped his head into his hand and rubbed his temple. "Is this what it looks like?"

"Depends on what it looks like," Finn replied, trying to sound smug.

Aerrow shook his head. "It looks like you two just banged on the bridge and Stork fed off of you, judging by that trail of blood he missed..." The pair looked at him guiltily. "Just... let's not make this a habit, at least until we know _all_ the consequences, alright?"

Stork nodded. "Sure. I think I can keep my hands to myself." He removed himself from Finn's member. "Not too sure about Blondie, though."

Aerrow groaned a bit. "Just go get cleaned up. I'll watch the bridge."

Stork merely nodded, collected his clothes and headed for the bathroom. His clean-up would be quick. Finn took a few moments to collect himself, his mind still reeling from the encounter. Aerrow's hand entered his vision. "Thanks," he muttered as he let Aerrow haul him to his feet.

"Finn, what possessed you to _do_ that?" Aerrow asked, sounding rather peeved. He hadn't wanted to yell at Stork - he'd have a conversation with the merb later - but Finn, this was one of those times Aerrow had to give his best friend, his damn near _brother_, a verbal dope slap.

Finn stood there, naked as the day he was born, covered in fluids and looking like he'd just gotten his hand caught in the cookie jar. He picked up the shredded remains of his boxers and cleaned himself up to avoid looking at Aerrow. "Umm, well..." Once he was cleaned off, he gathered his pants. 'Might as well 'fess up,' he thought to himself as he slid his pants on. "Aerrow, remember when we were younger, back on Neverlandis?"

Aerrow nodded. Just as Finn was about to go on, Piper entered the room. Aerrow put up a hand, not speaking, and pointed back the way she'd come. Piper looked a little confused, but walked back out anyway.

"Go on," Aerrow prompted Finn, sitting down. He noticed that when Piper had entered the room, his marksman had clammed up rather quickly. This was obviously something deeper than just some random sex act.

Finn looked everywhere except at his leader. "Well, remember when you asked me what my biggest sexual fantasy was, about the time I started to have them?"

Aerrow couldn't help the smile that crossed his face. Out of sheer boredom one night, the topic of sex and sexual preferences had somehow come up. "I remember you muttering out that you had a wild kink that you didn't wanna share," Aerrow told him.

"Yeah well..." Finn took a deep breath and gestured in the direction Stork had left in. "_That's_ the big one."

"Fucking a vampire?" Aerrow asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Dude, that was _literally_ a wet dream come true for me. Those times I looked really embarrassed after getting off? Yeah." Finn was now putting on his shirt so he didn't have to look at Aerrow.

"Okay... kind of a strange fantasy, but nothing to be embarrassed about," said Aerrow.

Finn made a noise of disagreement. "On Lyn, you didn't _have_ strange desires. Gender wasn't really an issue for "sowing your wild oats" as my guardians would say, but you settled down with the opposite gender when the time came. Period." He sighed and sat down next to Aerrow. "So... look, I just wanted to touch his wings at first. You know how he gets with me sometimes. It just spiraled out of control from there. He started playing with my wrist and I just told him to do it."

"Not the worst thing you've ever done," Aerrow said with a smirk.

"Shut up bro, I'm trying to spill my guts here. Look, I know you said not do just what we did, but I couldn't help myself." The marksman looked down at his feet.

Aerrow patted Finn's shoulder. "Just hold off until we figure everything out, alright? I'm not saying don't bed him." Aerrow couldn't resist the fond smile. "Atmos knows, him initiating sex is a rare thing. Just... leave the blood out of it until we know it's safe. Okay?"

"You got it. Um, I should probably like, let you know the ins and outs of Lyn before I start making the arrangements," Finn said.

Aerrow nodded. He understood that Finn was changing the subject. "That would probably be helpful."

"Okay, first off, around my former guardians, let's keep the crew sex to ourselves. Last thing I need is a lecture about dignity and shit. And trust me, dude, they would totally do that. We'll need to get fitted for 'formal attire'." The blond made a sour face. "Before we can even start talking about getting anything from them, they'll want a formal dinner party. Tradition. _And... _we'll have to actually be all stuffy about it. No goofing off like at that feast Harrier threw us." He really looked like he hated the idea.

"Why?" Aerrow asked. He'd spent most of his young life on his own with Radarr, so such things made really no sense to him.

Finn sighed. "Because they were grooming me to take over the business they had."

"What business?" Aerrow looked really confused now.

"Umm... running the terra." Finn blushed and scratched the back of his neck. "Look, I'm not sure how they wound up with me. When I asked, they said it 'wasn't my concern' or some shit." Finn's hands balled into fists. "I _hated_ it there, man! The only real friend I ever _had_ was my butler. Everyone else was a brown-noser trying to get in good with me to get in good with my guardians! When you found me again, that was the happiest day of my _life_ there. They didn't give two shits and a fuck about me. One of the older girls that had been flirting with me, I found out shortly before I left that she was fucking half the guys that hung around me. I was just the richest. She was hoping to get into my pants once I got old enough to do that."

"What good would that have done her?" Aerrow asked softly.

Finn sighed deeply. "Something that's drilled into every male on that terra. You get a girl in trouble, aka knock her up, you gotta marry her. It's not _quite_ the law but damn near it. Found out that was her plan. Once I could get it up, she was gonna bang me until she got knocked up. Apparently girls there were often told that their best way to get ahead in life was to get knocked up by a rich dude."

"That's sick," Aerrow said in disgust.

"Understatement of the century, bro," Finn replied in equal disgust.

"Why can't we just ask for the book and leave?" Aerrow asked.

"Not that easy. Normally ya gotta be there for about a week, _minimum _before you can ask for anything. Way it works is, first day, a fancy dinner to 'welcome me home'. Second day, get to know my friends." He rolled his eyes. "More like find out your social status to see if you're worth their time. Being a Sky Knight squad _might_ impress them enough to overlook the fact that we're a bunch of run-away orphans. Don't count on it. Third day is when they go about making plans for the future." Finn chuckled. "Like I'm gonna leave you guys. Fourth day, ugh, lunch with my 'old friends'. Read: see if they can get me to stick around. Fifth day..." he paused and thought. "Umm, shit... always get that one mixed up with the seventh day..."

Aerrow took that moment to interrupt. "But we're not going through all this shit, not for a book."

"Not if we can help it... now what was that fifth day..." He suddenly snapped his fingers. "Right, I have to sit around and listen to the list of girls that have been selected for me as possible wives. Arranged marriages aren't unheard of in the upper class to avoid the 'marry the girl you knocked up' rule. It'll take 'em a few days to get the list together, that's why that's the fifth day. Sixth day is when I'm supposed to take you around..."

"Hold up. How do you know they'll make you do all this?" Aerrow asked, baffled.

"Oh, right. It's in the 'Rules Of Etiquette' I'm supposed to follow. If you leave the terra without a proper send-off and big to-do, this is what you have to do to get back into the terra's good graces. Anyway, on the sixth day I gotta show you around the terra. I'm dreading the seventh day. That's a big ball. If I can sit through all that shit, _then_ I can ask a favor for sure."

"Okay, wait up - half the time you can't remember to take out the trash. _How_ on Atmos do you remember all that?" Aerrow was stunned.

"I had to recite them, and a bunch of other shit, every day at school from the day I was taken in. You'd get hit with a ruler a few good times if you didn't get it right. Needless to say, even I managed to memorize it," Finn said, hanging his head.

"Shit, Finn..." Aerrow moved to hug his buddy.

Finn let Aerrow give him a quick comforting hug before pushing him off. "'S cool, dude. I'm over it. It's just all in my head still. We need that book and my notes on it. I'll be okay, dude. I just hope Stork'll be alright. He'll most likely need to feed at some point while we're there."

Aerrow nodded. "Well fly that storm when we come to it, alright?"

Just then Stork came in and took his place at the helm. "Bathroom's yours, flyboy." Finn nodded his thanks and left the bridge, leaving Aerrow to wonder if maybe his life on the streets hadn't been so bad after all.


	7. Chapter 7

Stork brought the Condor to a soft landing on Atmosia's hillside with a small sigh of regret. "We're here," he called into the intercom system.

The crew filed onto the bridge, Piper carrying a pendant in her hand. "Okay I'm not sure how well this'll work, but I added a regeneration crystal to the mix. If we're lucky, that'll keep the Chroma Crystal charged."

Stork took the pendant and slipped it on. At once his wings vanished. "Well, it seems to be working," he said, his rubbery neck allowing him to look behind him.

"Just be sure to keep your wings close to your body and you should be fine," Piper told him.

The vampire nodded. "Just to let you know, Piper, I've been through that library before. You're only going to find tall tales and bedtime stories. Oh, a few of them got their information right, but still."

"Well who knows, maybe you didn't find the right book, or missed one." She smiled at him. "Besides, you know I like to do my own research."

"Suit yourself," Stork said with an indifferent shrug.

"Okay," said Aerrow, "while Piper's doing that, Finn, you'll get ahold of whoever you need to to get to Lyn. Junko, we might as well resupply here, stick to the list please. Stork, anything you need for the Condor, get it now."

Piper nodded. "Alright, once I've looked at the books I'll see about getting those blood bags."

Most of the crew filed out to their various tasks, leaving Aerrow, Finn and Radarr alone on the ship. "Kinda thought you were gonna follow him, bro," said Finn as he fiddled with the dial on the comm unit.

Aerrow heaved a sigh and sat on the sofa, next to Radarr. His eyes rolled at Finn's comment. "He doesn't need a babysitter, Finn."

"Uh-huh." Finn smirked at him.

Aerrow shook his head. "Okay, okay - so I would have, if it wouldn't have made him paranoid that I don't trust him now that he's told us what he is."

Finn snickered. "Thought so!"

"Shouldn't you be calling Terra Lyn and acting like a complete smarmy fop?" Aerrow asked with a huge grin.

"My middle finger, dude, take a good look."

Aerrow responded with a rude gesture of his own. "Up yours, pal. Go make that call."

Finn waved absently at Aerrow and finished playing with the dials. "Alright, alright, I'm callin'. Just don't make too much noise, okay? This is gonna be hard enough." Aerrow nodded and took a piece of fruit from the bowl on the table and nibbled it. Finn sighed deeply and activated the radio. He _really_ wasn't looking forward to this. "This is Finn, ward of the Vicereine. I wish to be patched into the Viceroy's private domicile."

"One moment, sir," said the female voice on the other end. Aerrow was giggling behind his hand silently while Finn made a face at him. "Connecting you now. I bid you good day, sir."

"And you, ma'am." Finn pretended to gag once he was put on hold. Aerrow looked like he was about to split his seams from laughing without making a sound.

"You have reached the residence of the Viceroy and Vicereine of Terra Lyn. I must ask your humble forgiveness but the Viceroy and his wife are not at home. May I trouble you to leave a mess-"

Hearing the voice, Finn's whole body relaxed. "Al, dude, chill. It's me."

"Young Master Finn! How delightful to hear from you again!" The man on the other end of the line actually sounded happy.

"Told ya I'd be alright. Look dude, I need to get back in the Vicereine's good graces. Yeah, yeah, I know I bailed out with out so much as a goodbye, but I cou-"

Finn was interrupted. "Young Sir, I completely understand. But may I ask the real reason you want to butter them up?"

Finn sighed. "You know me too well, Al. Alright, you know that tome you got me for my birthday some time back? I kinda need that back."

"A tome. You are going to go through that abysmal ritual just for a _book_? Dear boy, I know you have more sense of self-respect then that."

Aerrow was shaking his head at Finn. "Hold on one sec, Al." Finn clicked off the speak button for a moment. "What's up?"

"I'm not so sure it's a good idea to tell others about what Stork is just yet," Aerrow said with a frown.

"I gotcha, Aerrow." He clicked on the speak button. "Sorry, Al. Look, one of the people I hang with these days is really into reading old books, and I recently remembered that tome. Figured if I gave it to her, she'd get off my back about forgetting to take out the trash."

"Take out the trash?" Al said the words slowly.

"Yeah, take out the trash. I'm not living rich. Haven't been since I left."

"And I'm sure you're having the time of your life, aren't you, sir?" Aerrow could hear the smirk in the man's voice, and he decided that he liked the man's sense of humor.

"You always did know me, Al." Finn shook his head. "Just let them know I'm coming back. I'll do the stupid ritual and stay for a week, then we'll be outta their hair. Hopefully for good this time."

"I shall alert them the moment they arrive. How many people will you be bringing?"

"Myself, a young man, his animal companion, a young woman, a merb and a wallop," Finn said, grinning widely.

"You're going to give them a heart attack. You know that, right?" The man sighed and chuckled. "Of course you do. I can hear that million-buck grin all the way over here. I'll let them know. Where are you now?"

"We're chillin' on Atmosia for the day. Once the pilot gets the parts he needs and our bookworm's done in the library, we'll be leaving. Probably tonight."

"That's only a day's trip away. We'll see you tomorrow night. I shall inform them once they arrive. Good day, sir." With that, Al hung up.

Aerrow leaned back, kicking his feet up onto the table. "So who was that? You seemed to relax when you heard his voice."

"Oh, that was Al, my butler. Great guy, actually gave a shit about me when I lived there," Finn said, sitting down next to Aerrow.

"You miss him?"

"Na... okay, maybe a little." Finn rubbed the back of his head. "He's about the _only_ thing I miss about that place. He understands - he was the one that distracted everyone while I got out, the day you came to get me. Dude always had my back. If there's anyone we can trust on Lyn, it's Al. Oh, and the seamstress, Old Mrs. Molly. Although call her that to her face and you get a pin cushion to the face." Finn laughed hard at the memories. "That old woman was the one that informed me of the fact that girls often tried to take advantage of the marriage rule. We'll go to her when we need the formal attire. You, me, and Piper can just get something off the rack - Junko too, maybe - but for Stork, she'll need to do some alterations."

"You sure we can trust her with Stork having wings? Not something merbs normally have, you know."

"If I ask her not to say a word, she won't. She's an ornery old broad, but she's got a good heart. I once told her that I hated the way everyone treated me for being the Viceroy's ward, and she told me to ignore the morons and idiots." The blond shook his head. "We'll have to stick around for a week after the ritual. Or until you get fed up with how I'm being treated, whichever comes first, but it's _polite_-" Finn made a face. "-to stick around. Besides, they do have a _killer_ crystal shop and a fairly decent repair shop."

"It almost sounds like you _want_ to stay there," Aerrow said.

"More like, I wanna show the assholes I grew up with that money ain't everything. And to rub in their collective faces that we saved Atmos when Cyclonis stole Aurora Stone." Finn grinned.

Aerrow laughed. "Okay, _that_ sounds more like the Finn I know."

Finn laughed back at Aerrow, and the two relaxed, rehashing old stories back and forth and generally goofing off until Piper returned bearing a large container with several Icer Crystals attached.

"Well, Stork was right - nothing in that library but overly exaggerated tails of evil things that drain a body dry. We could make better guesses by watching Stork. But I did get the blood bags. All I had to do was mention that we don't exactly have a terra we hover around, so they gave us quite a few full ones to stick in the freezer. And they told me that we could actually reuse them, and they gave me the tools we'd need and everything!" Piper's words were rushed with excitement as she took the container to the kitchen to shove the bags into the freezer.

"Ya know, Aerrow," said Finn, "this is all kinda weird. We've got blood in our freezer."

Aerrow snickered. "Finn, we're a group of orphans, we're flying a ship that's _at least_ a hundred years old, most of us have fucked each other, and to top it all off, we're all about a half step from crazy. Blood in the freezer is nothing."

Finn snorted right back at him. "Well, when you put it _that_ way."

It took the better part of the day for the rest of the team to arrive. Stork took the longest with collecting parts and tools, but by nightfall they were taking off from the terra, much to Stork's delight. "Feels good to be flying again," he said to Aerrow.

The redhead smiled at him. "Sometimes I wonder if you weren't born to fly. Oh, Piper wanted me to tell you, you were right about those books being mostly full of crap, but she did manage to get some information-"

Stork interrupted. "I probably could've told her whatever she found out."

"Probably. And also there's several bags of blood in the freezer for you, if they're needed. She's also been taught how to draw blood so we can refill them."

"Well, that'll be good if I ever need a snack. Although Finn didn't seem too averse to being a donor." Stork's grin was sly.

Aerrow shook his head. "Stork, knock it off." He couldn't quite hide the grin on his face. Stork made a non-committal noise. "I mean it, Stork. Until we have some idea as to what's what with feeding for you, let's try to keep to what you need and not recreational, alright."

"I know, I heard you the first time." Stork smirked. "Doesn't mean I'm not going to tease and torment your wingman mercilessly."

"You wouldn't be you if you didn't, Stork. Why don't you take that crystal off now that we're in the air again?" Aerrow asked.

"Well... umm..." Stork's ears drooped a bit, causing Aerrow to walk over to him and rub between where his wings sat. "I figured you guys... would want me to look normal." The last part was barely murmured out of nearly-closed lips.

Aerrow shook his head and stroked his pilot's muzzle softly. "Stork, it's like I told Finn earlier. We're a bunch of nut jobs - you _are_ fond of calling the Condor a flying asylum. You are what you are. It makes no never-mind to any of us, I promise."

Stork couldn't help but lower his eyes, humbly. "You're too good for me, Aerrow," he said as he removed the pendant, his wings appearing.

Aerrow smiled. "Don't say that, Stork. I just like you the way you are, however you are."

Stork's wings moved to brush against his Sky Knight. "It'll take all night to get to Lyn. I looked it up before I came back. Finn wouldn't know coordinates if they were tattooed on his dick."

Aerrow snorted. "Probably not. So, can I ask you a few things?"

"Hey man, I got all night."

"What things _did_ you find out about being a vampire?"

"Besides what I learned on my own?"

"How about all of the above, for starters." Aerrow smiled.

"Well, I don't know much. I know I need blood, and the wings - that's the obvious stuff. I can't say for sure about the bright light being a problem. Most merbs are more at home in darker places than brightly light ones, so I don't know if that's a real thing or just made up." Stork paused and tapped his lips. "I know my senses are heightened, even moreso when I stay fed." He grinned and looked at Aerrow, letting the vampiric allure he possessed go to work ever so slightly on the redhead. "Then there's _that_. From what I read, it's supposed to be used to get a victim to come to you without effort. I have no real idea how it works."

Aerrow cleared his throat, shaking off the physical reaction to the allure. "Anything else?"

"Nothing specific. Just some notes I made over the years to try to keep me sane when I lived down there. Mostly on what the hunger was doing to me, a few things on why I didn't let out the wings - mostly because at the time it took less energy to keep them in than it did to let them out, and because there are things in the Wastelands that hunt based on size. The less mass you have, the less appetizing you are to them. That's actually the reason I was so pissed when you guys showed up that first day. Putting in those traps took weeks because those _things_ out there were trying to get me; there would've been more if I'd had my wings out." His eye twitched, and he cleared his throat. "Oh, and of course the enhanced strength. I'm not sure if a keener sense of smell is part of it, either. It's possible that because merbs have a better sense of smell than humans, I just notice the scent of blood better or what. I'm not sure."

"And a small Volca bat did this to you?" Aerrow asked.

"Best guess? Yeah." Stork scratched the top of his head with a wing. "I don't know how or why it happened, just that it _did_. All those books Piper and I have gone through didn't mention how it starts. Just tall tales and stories that frankly I wouldn't trust."

"Speaking of trusting, Finn says that we can trust his butler and an old seamstress with what you are. Just in case it comes up," Aerrow told him. "But hopefully it won't come to that. However, if/when you need to feed before we get what we came for, come to me immediately. I want to keep your hunger under as much control as we can manage." Aerrow looked at Stork for a moment. "You look exhausted. Why don't you grab a few hours under the trance helmet? I'll watch the helm for you." There was a slight tone of command in his words.

Stork's lips twitched slightly. "Just don't touch the levers on the right."

"You know me better than that." Aerrow watched the merb head off, and shook his head. Life had never been dull for him, and it didn't look like it was going to be any time soon. He wouldn't have it any other way.


	8. Chapter 8

Stork brought the Condor down for a landing on Terra Lyn and slipped his pendant on, causing his wings to vanish from sight. "Alright, let's get this soon-to-be total disaster started," he called into the intercom.

Aerrow was the first on the bridge. "Don't worry, the Condor'll be fine. And just remember, if you need to feed, don't hide it. We're all here for you."

Stork rolled his eyes. That had to be the forth or fifth time someone had told him that in the last hour. _"They just don't want you hungry so you won't attack them. They fear it."_

Stork glanced at his reflection in Finn's skimmer. "And here I hoped you'd've gone away with feeding. They just don't want me to suffer," he muttered under his breath.

"Stork? You okay?" Junko asked.

"Hum? Oh yeah, I'm fine, man. Just setting down on an unfamiliar terra, leaving the Condor alone..." Stork started.

Finn snorted a laugh. "Please, the people on Lyn couldn't steal a ship if their lives depended on it. They don't even have a Sky Knight squad. Buncha pansies."

Stork snorted, not believing him. "Don't worry, Stork, it's the Condor. No one would steal her," Junko said with his customary warm smile.

Stork still didn't look convinced as the team descended the walkway off the ship. "I do beg your pardon, good sirs and madam," came a lightly accented voice from the darkness. "But this landing pad is reserved for..."

Finn came out from behind Junko. "Al, chill. They're with me."

The old man in a suit stared at the crew. "The Storm Hawks? _That's_ who you've been living with?"

Finn grinned and turned his back and looked over his shoulder, showing off the Storm Hawks emblem on his back. "Dude, I _am_ a Storm Hawk."

"I don't believe it," Al said, shaking his head in amazement even as he gestured to a large carriage drawn by six creatures, each with six legs ending in hand-like feet.

"Lynian rock climbers," Finn said. "Best non-crystal-powered transport money can buy. Remind me to come back in the morning for my Skimmer."

Al shook his head again as the driver got the carriage moving. "I can't believe you're going through that abysmal ritual just for a book. I thought you would have put Lyn in your contrails for good, so why don't you tell me why you're _really_ here?"

Everyone looked at Aerrow. It had been talked over most of the flight to Lyn, about Finn's statement that this Al person could be trusted. The young Sky Knight gave a subtle shake of his head and replied. "Yeah, we're really here for a book. It's important. That's all I can tell you right now."

"The word of a Sky Knight is all I need, Aerrow," Al said.

"You know Aerrow?" Junko asked, wide-eyed.

The older man smiled. "The son of Lightning Strike is hard to miss, young sir."

Aerrow sat forward intently. "You knew Lightning Strike?"

"Not personally, I'm afraid; however, his exploits are not unknown here on Terra Lyn," Al told him kindly. "The manor house _does_ have his likeness in portrait, recently acquired."

Aerrow looked a little confused, so Finn translated. "They got a painting of your dad recently."

Aerrow's heart leapt into his throat. He didn't even remember his father, and to be able to see even a picture of him was more then he could hope for. He knew they had a job to do, however. In the back of his mind, he just hoped that he'd get a chance to see this painting, to see his father. "So... what's with this welcome-home ritual?"

"It stems from the time of the terra wars. It started as a homecoming ceremony, a reception for the returning warriors of Lyn," he explained. "However, once the wars were over, it had become so ingrained into our culture that it became mandatory, should someone leave and wish to return."

"You don't sound like you approve of the ritual," Piper said, looking at the man.

"Ah, my dear girl... I may not approve of it, but I'm too old and set in my ways to change now."

"Yeah, Al's an old fart, but he's got a good head on his shoulders," Finn said with his best smile for the old man.

The rest of the short trip was spent in silence, up until they arrived at the manor house. "I do hope you all have healthy appetites. The welcome-home feast consists of seven courses." Junko's eyes lit up at that, and Finn snickered. "Don't worry about consuming everything you're served. They always overserve in case someone's allergic to something. Pay the portions no mind and eat what you will."

"That's good," Finn said, smirking at Stork as they left the carriage. "Because the only thing I've seen Stork chow down on were sandcakes and Merb cabbage." Finn yelped as Stork stepped down from the carriage, right on the blond's foot.

"Oops," Stork said slyly.

"You're not gonna let me keep my dignity on this, are you?"

"Not a chance in hell, flyboy."

"Okay guys, this is it. Just don't be too pissed if they mostly ignore you. Getting to know you is tomorrow. Knowing my luck, they'll pester me with all kinds of questions," Finn explained.

Piper rolled her eyes. She _still_ couldn't believe they were going through all this nonsense for a book. If it was some rare crystal, maybe, but a book? She knew that according to Finn this book was exactly what they needed to understand Stork's vampirism, but she couldn't wrap her head around the fact that Finn couldn't simply _ask_ for it. Her thoughts were totally derailed when the massive doors opened, revealing splendor the crystal mage had never seen, even during their stay at Terra Rex, causing her to gasp. "Oh my Atmos, you used to live _here_?"

A tall man decked out in fine (and expensive-looking) clothes and a plump woman dressed in a flowing green dress descended from the stairs. The woman seemed to sail rather than walk over to Finn and hugged him. "Finn! I'm so glad to see you safe," she said happily.

Finn seemed to be taken aback by this show of affection. "Yeah, I'm fine, Aunt Sephora."

"Well, now that you're back, you can go back to your studies," the man said stiffly.

"Now, now, dinner awaits. We can discuss all that then," Sephora scolded the man gently. "Now, Finn, where are your manners? Introduce your companions..." She looked over the team and stopped when she saw Aerrow. "Wait... I'd know that unruly hair anywhere. Would you be Aerrow, son of Lightning Strike, by chance?"

Aerrow blinked at the question for a moment. "Yeah that's me."

"We are honored to have you in our home then," Sephora said with a curtsy.

Finn cleared his throat. "Aunt Sephora, Ingram, these are my friends. Aerrow you seem to recognize. The young woman is Piper, Aerrow's furry companion is Radarr, the young wallop is Junko and the merb hiding there behind Junko is Stork. Storm Hawks, my friends, this is Sephora and Ingram, Vicerine and Viceroy of Terra Lyn, respectively." Finn spoke formally, complete with a bow of introduction.

"A pleasure," the Viceroy said as the group entered the dining hall.

The room was huge and dominated by a massive table, set for eight, in the middle. "Wow," Junko commented.

"I do apologize for the use of the common dinning room," Sephore told them, "but we're in the middle of refurbishing the formal dining hall."

"This is informal?" Stork asked under his breath.

"Allow me, ma'am," Finn said, first pulling the chair out for Sephora and pushing it back in before scampering around the table to do the same for Piper. "Miss," he said as he did so.

"Oh, um, thank you Finn," Piper said, very surprised.

"You are most welcome," he told her as he sat across from the two adults.

Ingram scowled at the stares Finn was getting as the first course was served. "Well," he resumed as if he hadn't been interrupted, "now that you're back, young man, you can continue your studies."

The sharpshooter's hand clenched into a fist at his side. "I'm afraid I cannot possibly comply with that, sir. I have obligations that are far more pressing."

"Oh really?" Ingram said. "And what might those be, young man?"

"I'm a member of a Sky Knight squadron, _sir_. And it is to _that_ duty my oaths go, and _none_ before it," Finn said, with defiance in his voice and eyes.

"Would you both drink your wine and cease this this squabbling," the lady of the house said sharply.

"Of course, my dear. Guests, please forgive my temper," Ingram said.

Aerrow looked confused at being spoken directly to. "Um, sure. No problem."

They ate in silence for a while, until the third course was served and Sephora asked, "So Finn, what happened to you after you, ah, _left_ us so suddenly?"

Finn scowled into his wine glass. How _dare_ she pretend to care _now_! "I went to Neverlandias with Aerrow," he answered shortly.

"Terra Neverlandias? That orphanage terra?" The disdain in Ingram's voice was palpable.

"And I've never been happier than I am now," Finn shot back. "However, I do fear this topic will do nothing more than boil blood and raise ire. Perhaps a different topic would be preferable?"

Ingram glared at Finn, but nodded. "Indeed. What is your function in your squad?"

"My primary duty is to serve as the marksman, but I also strive to keep the morale of the crew high."

Stork grinned and opened his mouth, but was elbowed gently by Piper. "Not now, Stork."

"Is something troubling you, young lady?" Sephora asked.

"Oh, no. I was just wondering about Lyn's exports," she said hastily.

_Quick thinking, Piper_, Aerrow thought. He knew this night was only going to get worse. Thankfully, it seemed that the snobs loved nothing more than to talk about _their_ terra's _contributions_ to Atmos. Bless Piper and her never-ending questions for keeping them from interrogating Finn any more, caused the rest of dinner to go without a hitch.

The meal ended with little incident, much to Finn's relief. The Viceroy stood. "Dubois, do show our guests to their rooms. I'm sure they would enjoy a good rest. My dear guests, do leave your breakfast and lunch preferences with Dubois. Tomorrow there will be much talking. I do hope you'll enjoy your accommodations for the week."

Aerrow held up his hands. "Whoa whoa whoa, wait a minute here. We're not staying here for a week. We have things to do."

Ingram looked down his nose at Aerrow. "Young man, do you know _nothing_ of tradition and responsibility?"

"I'm a Sky Knight," Aerrow said, eyes holding Ingram's. "So yeah, I do."

"Ah, good. Then you understand that the welcoming ritual must be observed," Sephora said coolly.

"Look, we didn't come here so Finn could make nice. We just came here to get a few of his things. That's it and we're gone," Aerrow explained.

"What _things_ exactly did you want, _Finn_?" Sephora asked sharply.

"I was hoping to regain possession of my instruments, perhaps several of my posters, as well as my Tome," Finn replied formally.

"We shall discuss this in a while, after your friends have been shown to their rooms," Sephora told him. "Dubois, kindly show our guests to the guest wing."

"Yes'm. Do come this way," Dubois requested, walking out of the dining room.

"Hey, you gonna be okay, Finn?" Aerrow asked him quietly as he passed.

"Dude, I've dealt with these pricks most of my life," Finn said. "I'll be alright."

He followed Ingram and Sephora into a (relatively) small room. "Okay what's this about?" he asked.

"Are you _trying_ to embarrass us?" Ingram exclaimed angrily.

"No _sir_, I'm not. But we have responsibilities to Atmos, and we don't have time to have around here for a week," Finn told them.

"Your _friends_ don't have to stay," Sephora started.

"Yeah, but it's hard to fight Cyclonians, Raptors, Raiders and whatnot without a marksman, which is my job," Finn interrupted.

"Don't interrupt!" Ingram yelled. "You _have_ a job. The one we've been trying to groom you far!"

"No. I'm a Storm Hawk. _That's _my job, and where Aerrow goes, I go. End of conversation," Finn said, point-blank.

"Finn, you must stay for the ceremony, and I think I have just the thing to convince you to stay," Sephora said, retrieving a large book.

She opened the book and showed Finn the contents: photos, somewhat yellowed with age, of the original Storm Hawks. One of the pictures on the page was of Lightning Strike and his own parents... holding bundles. Lightning Strike was holding a bundle with red hair, and his mother was holding one with blond hair. "Where did you get this?"

"It was in your mother's things. We _were_ going to give it to you on your sixteenth birthday, but seeing as you weren't here and we had no idea where you were, we couldn't very well send it to you. If you stay for the ceremony, we'll return your things _and_ give you the book," Sephora said haughtily.

"Fine," Finn said in a deadpan tone. "I'll go tell Aerrow. Good night."

Finn stormed out of the room and up to the guest wing. It was situated in a tower, with the rooms upstairs and a common room on the ground level. It was here that the entire team was waiting for Finn. Said blond slammed the doors wide open. "We're staying."

Everyone spoke at once. "What?" "What happened?" "We're doomed."

"Okay, everyone calm down. What happened?" Aerrow asked softly.

"They have something of mine," Finn muttered, "and they won't give it to me unless I stay."

"Finn, we _can_ do without that Tome," Piper started.

"Fuck the damn Tome. To hell with the fucking Tome! I couldn't care _less_ about that moldy piece of shit!" Finn yelled, tears in his eyes.

Junko came up to Finn and hugged him. "What happened, Finn?"

"They have my mother's photo album," Finn told him. "It's got pictures of the old team... even at least one of _us_ with them, Aerrow."

Aerrow looked like he might pop a blood vessel in his head. On one hand, they had more pressing things to do than sit around and do nothing. On the other hand... this was tangible proof that he was Lightning Strike's son. Not some rumor, not just what he'd been told, but real and right there. He turned to his team. "Guys, this is one decision I can't make on my own. It... it's..."

"Too personal," Piper finished. Aerrow nodded. "Then there's only one thing to do. We stay and deal with these stuck-ups."

"Piper's right. It's family, and that's important," Junko said.

Aerrow looked over at Stork, who hadn't said a word since Finn entered the room. "Stork? Anything to say?"

"I'm not in charge," the merb said quietly.

Aerrow sighed. "Stork, I want your opinion."

Stork nodded. "I... If we stay, I'll need to feed before the week's up. And I'm not comfortable leaving the Condor on the ground for a week on an unknown terra..." He took a deep breath. "But this is important to you. I'll manage."

"Fine then, we'll stay though this thing," Aerrow said, feeling a strange tugging at his heart. Pictures of his father... to keep with him forever. It was something he'd never thought he'd have.


	9. Chapter 9

The team awoke the next morning to a light ringing sound. "Breakfast will be done shortly," Dubois announced, through an internal communication system.

Finn came down from the room he was in, he had refused to sleep in what had been his room, preferring to stay with his team. "Yeah yeah. We'll be ready," he said with a yawn.

Shortly there after the entire team was gathered in the common room. "Okay gang," Finn said yawning. "You guys are gonna be grilled today. Ingram and Sephora are gonna be asking you all kinds of questions, on the pretense of getting to know you of course. In reality they're trying to see what your status is. Basically it's to see if you're _worthy_ of being my friends." Finn's distaste for this was palatable.

"Why?" Junko asked, looking confused.

"Because they run the terra and... they were grooming me to do the same once I grew up. Something I _did not want_!" Finn yelled looking angry.

"Hey calm down buddy. It's okay. We'll deal with it," Aerrow told him.

"Oh you'll be fine, Aerrow. You're father's Lightning Strike. That right there qualifies you. The rest of you... well they'll look down their noses at you," Finn told them dejectedly.

"Well we don't care what they think," Piper told him with a smile. "We are who we are and if they don't like it, that's their tough shit."

Aerrow nodded and turned to Stork. "How you holding up?"

Stork was slipping his pendant on. "I'm still fine for now. Probably won't need to feed till day after tomorrow."

"Oh joy, right when we're supposed to be hanging out with my old _buddies_." Finn made a face.

"It's okay, I'll take care of you," Aerrow told him.

Stork nodded and the team went down to breakfast. "Welcome guests," Ingram said officially. "Please sit, and partake of breakfast."

The team looked at each other for a moment but sat down and the meal was served. As they ate the two terra leaders watched them eat, and they wrinkled their noses at Junko's eating, as well as the way Stork barely picked at the large helping he was served.

"So Piper, you seem rather well educated, tell us about yourself," Sephora said.

"Well, I'm a Crystal Mage, self taught. I also mainly do the navigating," Piper said offhandedly.

"And your parents?" Sephora asked coolly.

"They were killed in a Cyclonian attack when I was younger. I worked for a lady that had a goods store for a while before I was shipped off to Terra Neverlandias," Piper answered softly, looking down at her plate.

"What did they do for a living," Ingram asked shortly.

"I... that's none of your business," Piper answered, her tone a cold as a blizzard crystal. Finn sighed, he knew this day wasn't going to go well.

Sephora made a non-commental noise and turned her attention to Junko. "And what about you young man?"

Junko swallowed a large mouthful of food. "Um, what do you wanna know?"

"Well tell us about yourself," Ingram stated, though everyone could see that he and Sephora had already made up their minds regarding Junko as slow and dumb.

"Well I was always more intellectual then my peers. I liked to read more then fight. Both my parents were mechanics and I learned it from them. I mostly do the big stuff on the ship... you know heavy lifting and what not. Oh! And I do most of the maintenance on our vehicles and weapons," Junko finished brightly.

Aerrow caught the looks the pair shared and gave them a cold look as they turned to grill Stork. "And what about you young man?" Ingram asked.

Stork just looked back at them cool as you please. "Why do you care?"

The team snicked. "We want to get to know Finn's friends."

"Really now?" The Storm Hawks all grinned at each other. Stork seemed to be in full snark mode and when he was in that kind of mood all bets were off. "By the looks and sounds you've made at the team you've already made you decisions on us. So what's the point of asking?"

Even Radarr churred at that one. "Stork's got a point," Finn said. "About the only one here you haven't looked down your noses at is Aerrow and that's not on his merit as a Sky Knight, it's because his father was Lightning Strike." Finn was on his feet. "So why don't we skip all this and cut to the chase."

"Finn! You will show us the respect we are due!" Ingram yelled.

"You get the respect you show," Aerrow said. "And you haven't shown us any, _none_ since we arrived."

Ingram and Sephora both looked like someone had just smacked them in the face. "I... Forgive us," Sephora said softly. "We are merely concerned about those that Finn socializes with." Finn looked murderous but sat back down and returned to his meal.

"So young merb, please tell us about yourself," Sephora said, much more politely then before.

Stork looked at Aerrow for a split second, and Aerrow nodded back. He let out a sigh. "I pilot my ship, the Condor. I keep her working and safe."

"_Your_ ship? Doesn't Aerrow, as the Sky Knight, own it?" Sephora asked.

"Normally, that would be the case," Aerrow answered. "But since it was Stork that found _her_," no one missed the emphasis on the word, "in the Wastelands and spent several years there fixing her up... she belongs to him. And I don't begrudge him that title at all."

"It's very rare to see a merb off Terra Merbia..." Ingram started.

"Let's not go there," Stork said, a chill in his voice.

"It's best not to ask. He doesn't talk about his past much. And honestly none of really do," Aerrow told them. "And to be honest I don't really appreciate this digging, so I'll give you the short and sweet answer. We're all orphans, we've all had it rough in some way shape or form. And before you ask, I spent most of my life on the streets before finding Finn and making for Terra Neverlandias. And yes I was the way Finn baled from you guys but not the reason." Aerrow had the pleasure of seeing the two adults exchange almost worried looking looks.

"Well," Finn said smiling, "that killed what normally takes a full day. So how 'bout we head back to the Condor and get our skimmers?"

"Sounds like a plan," Aerrow replied completely ignoring the indigent looks they were getting.

Once the meal was over the team left and headed on foot for the Condor, Finn's butler Al in tow. "Is there some reason you're following us?" Aerrow asked.

"It's been my job to be there for Finn since the Vicereine brought him home," Al told them.

"Guys, he's cool, trust me on this," Finn told them. "He's not gonna repeat anything we say to those stuck up dicks. Right Al?"

"It's been my job to make sure you were watched over and kept out of as much trouble as I could. _Not_ go running to his guardians with his secrets. I always viewed it as if I did that, then he would not trust me and I couldn't do my job," Al answered.

"I told him _everything_ as a kid," Finn supplied.

"Everything?" Aerrow asked, shooting a quick look at Stork then back to Finn.

Finn got the implication. "Yeah dude, everything."

"So what exactly were they trying to groom Finn for?" Piper asked.

"Well the Vicereine cannot have children of her own, and seeing as how it is her line that rules Terra Lyn she needed an heir. I do not know the circumstances of how she found Finn, but I do know that they bit off more then they could chew by adopting him," Al told them.

"So um, Al what's your full name?" Piper asked, watching Aerrow and Stork hang back some what.

" Alexander R. Dubois, Esq," came the reply.

While Piper was playing twenty questions with Al, Aerrow pulled Stork back. "Stork, it's up to you whether or not we tell this guy about what you are."

"Finn seems to trust him... what do you think?" Stork asked in return.

"It feels like we can trust him, apparently Finn used to tell him everything, so your call buddy," Aerrow answered.

Stork looked at the man, thinking about the way he looked at Finn, recalling that Al seemed to honestly care about the blond firecracker. He let out a large sigh. "Do you think it's a good idea?"

"Well if that pendent were to fail around him, it would make things easier if he knew... and that way we don't have to watch what we say, or _do,_ around him. Like if you need to feed and he over hears it," Aerrow answered.

"Alright, we can tell him once we get on the Condor," Stork said softly.

Aerrow nodded once and they made their way to the ship. "You'd better wait," Aerrow told Al once they got there. "Stork set his traps before we left, and trust me on this you don't wanna get caught by them."

"Alright," Al said not questioning such things.

Stork darted to his ship and quickly deactivated the traps. He was unsettled about having a stranger on his ship but Finn trusted him wholeheartedly, and Aerrow got a sense that he could be trusted. That was all he really needed truth be told, and telling the man his little secret, well Aerrow had made several good points. _"Trust? You! Bah, you don't like the idea and we both know that."_

"You hush. If Aerrow trusts him, that's good enough for me," Stork said to his reflection on the polished wall.

_"Aerrow doesn't know how badly this needs to be kept under wraps!"_

"And you underestimate Aerrow. If he says it's a good idea it's better then even money that it is, now go away!" Stork nodded sharply to himself as his reflection became silent once more. "Alright, everything's shut down. Come on aboard if you want."

The small group entered the hanger of the ship, and Finn went right for his skimmer and the tools. "I've got some tune up work to do," he said when Junko looked at him. Despite the fact that there were two main mechanics Finn liked doing his own tune ups when he had a chance. Big things, he'd leave to Junko or Stork but for little things, he liked to do on his own.

"I'm afraid that'll have to wait Finn. We've got something important to do first," Aerrow told him seriously. "Don't worry it won't take all that long."

Finn gave an exaggerated sigh and followed everyone onto the bridge. "So what's going on?"

"We're letting Al in on Stork," Aerrow said in a low voice.

"Oh, okay then," Finn said with a nod. The group entered the bridge where Stork leaned against the wheel.

"Al, please have a seat," Aerrow directed the much older man to the sofa.

"Thank you," Al said politely.

"Finn's been pitching that we can trust you since before we got here, and we've decided to test this theory," Aerrow said.

"It's one of those "don't tell the folks" kinda things Al," Finn told him.

"Ah of course, but is it necessary to tell me?" Al asked looking at Finn.

Finn sighed. "If we're sticking around for that damned ball yeah we're gonna need help getting Stork duded up."

Aerrow looked at Finn for a moment, he honestly hadn't thought about that part. "Stork, show the man," he said gently.

Stork nodded and slowly removed the pendent and let out a grateful sigh as he stretched his wings. "Oh man I think they were starting to cramp," the merb said.

"How extraordinary," Al whispered. "That book of yours Finn, it was right. They are real."

Finn grinned at his team mates. "See? Told ya we could trust him?"

"I see now why you wanted that book, you need it I see. Well don't worry this will not get back to the Vicereine or the Viceroy," Al told them.

"Really?" Piper asked surprised.

"It's not my job. My job was and for now _is, _to make sure that Finn doesn't kill himself doing something stupid. No more no less," the butler answered eyes still on Stork.

"Could you not stare at Stork like that," Aerrow said drily.

"I do beg pardon, I don't wish to be rude but to see something I'd only heard stories about in my youth," he shook his head. "I never thought it was possible."

"What stories have you heard?" Stork asked timidly.

"Just legends mostly. Stories about vampires being hunted mostly," Al said.

"_Hunted_?" Aerrow exclaimed worriedly.

"Yes. Now these were just legends mind you..." Al started.

"See guys Al's the one that got me interested in vampires in the first place," Finn told them.

"Nice to tell us now Finn," Piper replied.

"Sorry... kinda slipped my mind a bit," Finn replied sheepishly.

Stork walked up to the blond and dope slapped him hard. "Nice work _expert_."

"Hey cut it out, I didn't forget on purpose or anything!"Finn replied.

"And yes I did say hunted. But then again where ever there happens to be something out of the norm, there is a group of people willing to hunt them down," Al explained.

"Then we _really_ can't let people know about Stork..." Aerrow started. He felt his heart sink and by the look on Finn's face he'd come to the same conclusion. "We'll have to leave, _soon_."  
Al stood up and stared out the window for a moment before speaking up. "I do beg pardon but if I may make a suggestion?"

"Ah sure?" Aerrow said unsure.

"I know where the Vicereine and Viceroy keep the articles Finn wants. Including that photo album that they're holding over him," Al explained.

"You're thinking about stealing them aren't you?" Piper asked with shrewd logic.

"Well they do belong to Finn. It's not really stealing if it already belongs to him right?" Junko asked.

"That's right," Aerrow said.

"What can you do for us Al?" Finn asked.

"Well as I said I know exactly where they keep everything. They moved it all into the attic storage. Now while they keep that looked, I do happen to know that once a week they send the maid in to clean and keep the dedicates from fading. I'm certain I can convince her to leave it unlocked when she goes out to air the antique linens," Al explained.

"How soon can you manage that?" Aerrow asked.

"The day after tomorrow. You can sneak in that night and retrieve Finn's property and leave," Al replied calmly.

"Told ya he was awesome Aerrow," Finn said with a smile.

Al actually had the grace to blush a bit at the complement. "Well I did orchestrate Finn's ability to leave when you came for him Aerrow. Getting the Vicereine and Viceroy out of the house was easy actually."

"Alright. We put up with this shit for two more days then... we're out of here," Aerrow said with a nod.

Stork sighed in relief. He hadn't wanted to stay here very long at all. They way these _people_ kept looking at him was unnerving and frankly what ever that woman was using for a perfume was making his nose itch something awful... and the way they treated Finn made him want to turn them both into a late night snack.


	10. Reboot

Hello readers, as this chapter implies I'm rebooting this fic. I've had too many changes in my views about this cartoon since a falling out with someone and finally being allowed to have my own ideas about the characters and their habits. For example this person was so fixated on male on male sex that the idea of Aerrow and Piper was avoided like the plague. This pair by the way was quoted by the creator as being in the show and was slated to be a major part of the third season. AKA Aerrow/Piper is cannon. Also there was too much abuse of characters, particularly Stork, and it was just not plausible. Another thing was that my own ideas were often tossed to the wayside and basically I was talked out of my own and into other ideas. Now I have my own ideas and am taking the story in a new direction. Please I hope you'll all enjoy Days of Iron, Copper Nights Redux that will be posted separately from this.


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